Knew It

January 14, 2011 at 7:18 pm | No Comments »

In this week’s BusinessWeek, CEO Ivan Seidenberg admits that Verizon never had a shot at getting the iPhone originally because Apple was concentrating on deploying the same GSM hardware worldwide. It’s gratifying to see someone finally admit that story about how the carrier wouldn’t cede customer service, etc. is little more than a lie pushed by Verizon PR flaks. Though I’m highly amused that the idiot Joe Nocera got duped into publishing the fiction again the day after BusinessWeek’s interview broke. Also, Nocera’s assertion that Verizon iPhone customers will need to visit a Verizon store for service rather than an Apple Genius bar is laughable.

I don’t get why the press–particularly the NY Times–has decided to stereotype AT&T as inept and Verizon as infallible. Over the years, I’ve had both regular phones and smart phones on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. None struck me as notably better than the other. My calls dropped on all three. I found dead zones with all three. None came close to perfection. Barely tolerable seems the nature of the cellular beast.

Right now, I’ve got an iPhone with AT&T. But I’ve also got Verizon service in the form of my car’s telematic system. The BMW has a built-in cellular radio independent of the bluetooth connection that lets me make calls with my phone. I can just punch a button and talk to reps who look up phone numbers, provide directions, place an emergency call, etc. Or I can open a data connection to search Google, look up headlines and get weather forecasts. Most car makers offer an equivalent, OnStar et al. The BMW Assist service happens to run on Verizon. In California, the reliability sucks.

At least 25% of the time, pushing the button results in just dead silence. No connection. The odds of failure jump dramatically when I’m near a major freeway (my office is less than a block from the SF anchorage of the Bay Bridge so I’m near a major freeway a lot) or around afternoon rush hour. And the problems aren’t just in SF. I couldn’t get a connection despite trying for a good 20 minutes one Saturday night in the middle of Century City. Given that it’s LA, where I was visiting, being able to get directions would have been very helpful.

Data is more reliable but the connection is dog slow. Searches that take maybe 30 seconds on the AT&T iPhone will take three or more minutes through the car’s Verizon system. But it’s easier–and likely safer–to use the iDrive for input so I put up with it.

All of which is a long way of making the point that all the cell networks suck. And if you think that Verizon offering the iPhone will change anything, you’re as big of an idiot as Joe Nocera.

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