AT&T Tries To Set The Record Straight On Its Verizon Lawsuit

AT&T continues to blast (and sue) Verizon over its recent ads, which make a point of hammering home the 3G coverage holes in AT&T's network. AT&T has said that the ads are misleading, and on Friday, AT&T said it wanted to set the record straight regarding its lawsuit.

In its press release, titled "AT&T Sets the Record Straight on Verizon Ads," AT&T says the following:

As the U.S. market leader in wireless data service, we typically don't respond to competitors' advertising. However, some recent ads from Verizon are so blatantly false and misleading, that we want to set the record straight about AT&T's wireless data coverage.

First, they're the market leader? really, Verizon has more subscribers, but AT&T is making a point: with the iPhone it certainly has more data exercising its cellular network than Verizon does.

Of course, that's probably the reason AT&T users see so many dropped calls, as well. Its this sort of smartphone overload that "Seth the Blogger Guy" used to defend the AT&T network problems.

The rest of AT&T's press release goes to explain that its network covers the majority of the U.S., which is why it has complained about Verizon's ads; AT&T feels that the map on Verizon's ads implies no AT&T coverage at all in much of the U.S.

AT&T's release notes that 233 million people or 75% of the population are covered by AT&T's 3G network, while 301 million people or more than 96% of the population are covered by EDGE.

It further goes on to note that AT&T customers have access to "more than 100,000 applications, more than with any other wireless company." Of course, the fact that almost all of these are iPhone apps was pretty much ignored. If Verizon gets its hands on the iPhone ... well, you can see what will happen.

Also, AT&T's ad, er, press release points out that on Verizon's network, you can't talk and perform data-centric functions (browse the web, email) at the same time, a limitation of the CDMA technology that Verizon uses. Of course, AT&T leaves out that you on the iPhone you can't listen to Pandora and get a phone call, unless you have a jailbroken phone, but that's besides the point, right?

Additionally, on Thursday, AT&T amended its complaint, seeking a restraining order against the holiday ads that Verizon is beginning to use, such as one that claims the iPhone belongs on the "Island of Misfit Toys."