Industry Analyst Jeff Kagan | Verizon iPhone Improves AT&T Service

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As Sprint Nextel Enters Service Should Get Even Better, Until...

Jeff Kagan

Tech Analyst

Atlanta, GA, August 30, 2011 — AT&T Mobility has been having such a bad time with quality and service thanks to the Apple iPhone over the last several years. To remedy that they want to merge with T-Mobile.

A funny thing seems to be happening. Ever since Verizon Wireless started selling the iPhone too, complaints about AT&T Mobility have been dropping.

Now with Sprint Nextel getting ready to sell the iPhone as well, the pressure on AT&T will be reduced even more.

This is great news. Great news for AT&T Mobility customers. Great news for the competitors. Great news for all iPhone customers no matter who they use.

And it is great news for AT&T Mobility. They must be enjoying not being the focus of so many negative stories.

This does not mean the problem is solved long term however. This is just a temporary fix.

Long term as smart phones continue and wireless data traffic continues it’s growth, the problem will revisit us once again.

This next time it won’t be just an AT&T problem. Instead it will be an industry wide problem. It will affect AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and other smaller carriers.

This is why we have to come up with one or more long-term solutions.

One solution could be to take all the spectrum back from the carriers and put them in one big bucket where every carrier can access it equally. That would give each similar quality so the competition will be on price and care.

Another solution could be from companies like Lightsquared, which wants to provide additional avenues for the big and small carriers to offer wireless data services.

Mergers won’t solve the growing industry wide problem. They will only solve the problem of one carrier temporarily.

We have a long term wireless data crisis brewing and we need to have a long term fix before it hits, and quickly.

Let’s start having that discussion.

Jeff Kagan

Tech Analyst

770 579 5810

jeff@jeffkagan.com

www.jeffkagan.com