AT&T Mobility's (NYSE:T) claim last week that it has the nation's "most reliable" LTE network has sparked a heated war of words between AT&T and rival Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ).
In response to AT&T's claim, Verizon released a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal touting its own network reliability. And now, Mike Haberman, vice president of network technology at Verizon Wireless, is calling AT&T's claim outright misleading: "The information doesn't appear to be based on latest methodology or what customers are experiencing," he said of AT&T's claim, noting that AT&T has not revealed its sourcing or methodology for the claim.
Haberman pointed to a recent study from network testing firm RootMetrics showing that Verizon's network is actually the most reliable in terms of customers being able to get access across the country. (Verizon's LTE network currently covers around 301 million POPs while AT&T's covers 225 million.) Haberman said the RootMetrics study "replicates the customer experience as close as possible right now."
But AT&T executives aren't pulling back. According to a Seeking Alpha transcript, during AT&T's second-quarter earnings conference call AT&T executives referenced the "most reliable" claim five times. "The facts are the facts. We stand by our claim," an AT&T representative told CNET. "Our 4G LTE reliability claim is fully supported by independent test data performed by a highly-credible source. Contrary to Verizon's assertion, we disclosed the source of the data to Verizon and it is a source that Verizon has endorsed in the past." Article