Sprint's EV-DO network is quite a different beast -- by far faster from my experience (and I've used both very recently). Now, truth be told, I've only used Cingular's HSDPA network in one market, and it performed admirably when I used it. But, Cingular's HSDPA network is nowhere near being available nationwide. Sprint's EV-DO network, which not covering their entire native national network, is built out quite a bit more than Cingular's HSDPA network, however.
So, what's all the fuss about? See this recent full-page ad in the September 5, 2006 edition of The New York Times:
It's that first bullet comparison that kind of piqued my interested. What does "largest high-speed wireless data network" mean? EDGE certainly does not qualify for "high speed" from my experience -- it's barely better than a 56K dialup connection.
I then snooped around Sprint's website to find this rather detailed comparison. Sprint, it looks like, directly responded to Cingular with some pretty good facts about its network. What was the comparison made of? Well, Sprint was comparing apples-to-apples as best it could. It was looking at it's nationwide (to a point) EV-DO network to the best comparable nationwide network Cingular offers -- which is the older and slower EDGE network (as Cingular's HSDPA network is not national, at least at this time).
So, after I researched a little bit more and contacted Sprint to gauge its response on Cingular's advertising (like I said in the title, "Round 1"), this is the picture that started becoming clear:
Cingular's claim of the "Largest high-speed wireless data network in America"
- From my information, 80% of Cingular's "high-speed" network is powered by its 2.5G EDGE network.
- Sprint Mobile Broadband (400-700kbps) is 5 times faster than Cingular's EDGE (70-135kbps)
- In terms of wireless broadband coverage, Sprint covers three times more people (153 million vs. 47 million), four times more cities (5,138 vs. 1.092) and five times more airports (486 vs. 95) than Cingular's broadband network, BroadbandConnect.
Cingular's claim of the "Largest Push to Talk network area coverage in America"
- Sprint's Nextel walkie-talkie phones connect instantly coast to coast with over 17 million people on what appears to be the world's largest walkie-talkie network.
- Sprint Nextel's arsenal of ruggedized devices and phones kind of gives a hard edge to Sprint here, as it has the only camera phone that meets military specifications for rain, dust and shock.
I guess "truth in advertising" depends on the eye of the beholder (and lawyers and interpretive double-speak). What else is new?
21. Michael Brown you say that Nextel's coverage is the same for ptt as voice and data, and then you turn around and say that you have used ptt when voice would not work, in fact showing that there are differences. As far as the combined phone, there will be technical glitches galore, just watch!
Dee, you made some good points, and the biggest is, what works best for me where I am. That is what really matters, and that is why some people prefer Cingular, some prefer Verizon and some prefer Sprint-Nextel. All have some strong points.
Jeff, the reason carriers are moving away from AMPS is capacity which affects coverage. The ratio of GSM to AMPS is something like 9 to 1. When you look at the number of callers we have today, there is simply no way that the old AMPS network could work. Congestion would prevent many calls from coming through, and roaming would often be blocked. The fact of the matter is that the network capacity has been tremendously, incredibly increased and dropped calls have gone down for all carriers while they have been adding customers at breakneck speeds. Overall the cellular industry has done a remarkable job in a rapidly evolving environment.
Posted at 10:16PM on Oct 16th 2006 by jack carter