AT&T Sues Verizon Over 'Map For That' Ads Slamming Coverage

ATLANTA — AT&T Inc. is suing Verizon Wireless over its competitor's "There's a Map for That" commercials, saying in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the ads are misleading and amount to deceptive trade practices.

AT&T filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and is asking for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the ads. The company requests an immediate hearing and said AT&T has "suffered and continues to suffer irreparable harm" as a result of the commercials.

Verizon's ads show maps of the United States with areas highlighted to depict where third generation – or "3G" – network coverage – which allows users to access data faster – is available. The maps use red for Verizon and blue for AT&T to show where each company offers 3G coverage. Areas where 3G is not available are left blank.

In one ad, the narrator says, "If you want to know why your 3G coverage works so well on Verizon Wireless, there's a map for that," and a map of the country nearly covered with red dots is shown. The narrator later says "If you want to know why some people have spotty G3 coverage, there's a map for that, too" and a map of the country with some blue areas and a lot of blank space is shown to ostensibly show AT&T's 3G coverage.

AT&T says those maps are misleading because there is still regular coverage in areas where "3G" service is not offered.

Verizon modified the ads after AT&T complained about them saying its customers were "out of touch" where 3G coverage was unavailable. Those words were taken out and Verizon included a tag line saying "Voice & data services available outside 3G coverage areas" at the end of the ads.

Verizon spokeswoman Nancy Stark said the ads are an extension of Verizon's long-standing network reliability "Can you hear me now?" campaign and the changes that were made are sufficient.

"As to the merits of the suit, there aren't any," she said Tuesday. "The ads are clearly labeled 3G coverage and they also clearly state that voice and data service is available outside the 3G coverage area."

The Verizon commercials mock Apple's popular "There's an App for That" spots touting the thousands of applications that can be used on the iPhone. AT&T provides coverage for the iPhone.

Comments

[kernau]

Verizon had the chance to have the iPhone before AT&T. I left Verizon after years of not being able to hold a conversation with their Treo from the bedroom in my house. I live in Hollywood... not dropped calls from the same bedroom since I got my iPhone last May. Besides, with a Mac the syncing is flawless and does it over the air with the Mobile Me, set up. Take that Verizon.

I live in West Hollywood. Sunset and Crescent Heights. AT&T has the worst service of anyone in the WORLD. If I didn't love the IPhone I would leave. I spend most of my time on the home phone complaining about their service. I even started a facebook page for Los Angeles residents that hate AT&T. It was removed and I was threatened with the loss of my facebook account. Funny how AT&T can find my negative page on facebook but can't find space for another tower in my neighborhood. I'm even thinking about selling my condo in order to get better service on my IPhone.

[allalone]

Verizon had the chance to have the iPhone before AT&T. I left Verizon after years of not being able to hold a conversation with their Treo from the bedroom in my house. I live in Hollywood... not dropped calls from the same bedroom since I got my iPhone last May. Besides, with a Mac the syncing is flawless and does it over the air with the Mobile Me, set up. Take that Verizon.

[AllRise]

The At&t VS. Verizon case is now online at the AllRise court. Join the debate and cast your vote – http://bit.ly/AllRise269

[MIKEinNYC]

A pox of both of these phone companies!!!

[Manda Ford]

Verizon is terrible, (no idea about AT&T)
My parents had Verizon for years, and I kept telling them to get something else because at the last 3 places they lived in they would have to walk out into the driveway or cross the street or go into another part of town just to talk on their phone.....

[lightningbolt]

Verizon's signal is terrible. I live right on the edge of DC and I couldn't get a signal in my apartment unless I was next to the window. Even then, calls got dropped regularly. Verizon also has awful business practices and extremely horrible customer service. They never stop sending junk mail even if you call them and ask them repeatedly to stop.
I switched to AT&T and I am much happier. I don't have to walk to the window to talk on the phone. My calls hardly ever get dropped.

[MalloMel]

I use Verizon, and I have traveled extensively throughout the U.S. during the last 5 years or so. Actually, 45 states. It's a hobby of mine. I can say that during my travels that there was only one time that I was unable to get a signal, and that was out west, and that cleared up after about 5 miles or so.

I spend most of my time on the highways and in cities and towns. Maybe that has something to do with it, but nevertheless, I'm quite happy with Verizon.

[shockaslim]

Verizon actually has the best coverage in the nation.

[MsJoanne]

I have ATT and their Edge (non 3G) is slower than dial up.

[awsnyde]

I have AT&Ts 3G, and I can state that it's slower than dial-up too. OTOH, I'm skeptical that Verizon is much better, or at least that it would stay that way if it picked up more customers--all using the same limited bandwidth, which is AT&T's problem.

[ebroadcast]

Sorry AT&T .. they specifically state "3G Coverage"

[bookon]

I love my IPhone, but I want 3G here in Vermont!

[Bigrcube]

Make the iPhone available on Verizon, instead of EXCLUSIVELY on AT&T, and MORE people would BUY iPhones and this spat would become MOOT.

[Matt7]

It's funny. With all the political hubbub lately, I looked at the maps and thought, "red states and blue states" and was repulsed at the thought of all that red! :-)

[regulus4]

HA!! Made my day :D

[OlHippie]

I travel pretty much everywhere, and while there are many areas where an enterprising small company locked everyone out, (notably West Texas, West Virginia, and Northern Maine) Verizon has much better coverage as a whole. I have made calls from the Mountains of Colorado and Idaho, where no one else in my party got an signal at all.

If Verizon had the iPhone, everyone else would be gone in short order.

[Tagrid]

If Verizon had the iPhone AND GSM (instead of CDMA) then there could be TRUE competition - and Verizon would either put AT&T out of business - or AT&T would finally have to improve!

[GeorgeMilquetoast]

Gee, and here I am a technogeek who just so happens to know the difference and knows that CDMA is better than GSM.

[Red0rGreen]

I was a Verizon customer until I moved to north-west Texas. Then they told me they couldn't serve me at all. Sure, my phone could still make and receive calls but they couldn't give me a local number! Really nice, asking all your customers to call you long-distance when you're 100 yards away. So I switched to ATT.
The advent of the iPhone changed everything. Now I am an iPhone customer, and I frankly don't care who's carrying it as long as it works. Traveling around the country, I haven't noticed instances of being unable to get 3G access, even in quite remote areas. Verizon's claims of having the best network are meaningless because they don't have, for me, a good way to use the service. A bit like a country declaring that they have the finest roads in the world and no speed limits, but Porsches aren't available...

[MalloMel]

Sounds good, but maybe you can't get a local number, because possibly Verizon does not have a tower near you, or some such thing. If that is the case, then I'm sure that ATT would run into the same problem in some areas.

Anyway, I have used Verizon for a number of years, and have traveled extensively, and can say that I am absolutely happy with their service. I'm talking about traveling all out west, and through the deserts and mountains and all.

I have no way of knowing if ATT is better. I just know that I am very happy with Verizon.

[Agentprovokatur]

As someone else noted the real key here is to get the phones unlocked from the networks. This is the key to getting the best combination of service and devices.

I recall signing a petition regarding that a while ago and here is a link to draft legislation (may have been the one I was signing on) to a U.S. House of Representatives bill in the 110th (prior) Congress:

http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/draft_wireless_legislation.pdf

I don't know the status of this particular bill or such legislation in general in the new Congress.

I'm out of touch with my Anti-Trust law (but then we have had what, Republican control of Congress for 12 years, combined with 8 of the Presidency, which is more than enough time to legislate it away and diminish Executive branch enforcement to nil). In any case it seems that this should be some form of tying (forcing consumers to buy on product to get another) which I thought was generally a violation of Anti-Trust law.

Congress may have exempted them.

The answer seems to be "unexempt" them by requiring any carrier to carry any device compatible (which them almost all seem to be able to do otherwise there would be no "Roaming Charges", eh?) with their service.

[allalone]

Ah, the politics of getting our cost sucking cell phone companies to stop screwing us with what they do not offer. Landline phones are great for offices but home use is dwindling daily and faster and faster with more cell users. The future is here. Has been.

[kkrimmer]

The US monopolies are a decade behind the EU.

6 years ago in EU I travelled all over, never once lost a signal (except in elevators and tunnels, etc).

Americans have been taken to the cleaners by cellphone carriers and the US govt has sanctioned the monopolies.

[Darcman]

U can say the same about just about every industry in this country! Health insurance, credit card, Big Pharma all do that to the people of this country! We live in a corporate control pretend democracy!

[MalloMel]

It's all about money. The trick is to get on the receiving end. If you want to progress in this society, you have to be a receiver and not a giver. Simple as that. Sorry to all those folks trying to finagle their way into being a receiver, but unable to get there, but there is only so much room at the top.