We didn't choose a winner, but rather have included a "SWOT" (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis for each provider to help you make the best choice for your location and needs. You can find the vendors' complete responses at ID# 1520rd1. Our features chart with details of each service is to the left.
A discussion of AT&T Wireless is in some respects academic because the company has agreed to be acquired by Cingular. With AT&T Wireless' 22 million subscribers, that's a big event, and barring unforeseen regulatory issues, the deal is likely to be completed by year's end. Still, it's worth noting that AT&T Wireless provided one of the most detailed RFI responses and also found time for an extensive follow-up interview, in which representatives were quite forthcoming about the company's offerings and the overall wireless data market. AT&T Wireless is justifiably proud of its focus on the enterprise, and its experience addressing the wireless data challenges of large organizations came through quite clearly. Cingular, which has a reputation of catering more to the broader consumer market, should benefit from AT&T Wireless' enterprise expertise.
In contrast, AT&T Wireless is not quite so proud of its reputation for spotty network performance. Much of this is historical, due to a less-than-smooth migration from TDMA to GSM technology. Recent J.D. Power & Associates customer-satisfaction ratings place AT&T Wireless dead last, a result the company says is based on old information. Still, we've heard enough first-hand complaints about its service to be a little suspicious, at least when it comes to voice. According to the company's latest SEC filings, service is available in only 87 of the top 100 U.S. markets. In addition, the company's subscriber growth has been anemic this past year, and its churn rate (a measure of customer retention) is the highest of any carrier.
On the data side, AT&T Wireless makes a solid case for market leadership, with nationwide EDGE data services and free data roaming to competitor's networks. Although its latency was a little higher than competitive 1X networks, we experienced downstream data rates as high as 186 Kbps compared with a high of about 124 Kbps on Verizon's network and 110 Kbps on Sprint. In addition, AT&T Wireless is the first carrier to offer a UMTS-capable 3G network (four cities today, two more by the end of the year) that sped our downstream data at speeds of up to 347 Kbps. Not only will Cingular benefit from AT&T's 3G experience, but the combined unit will have a dominant position in spectrum holdings, which will let it deploy 3G services without acquiring additional licenses. Justifiably, cellular carriers are concerned that demand for data services, especially under unlimited usage models, could outstrip system capacity. Although all these companies have plenty of experience in maximizing the use of wireless spectrum, there may come a point when the well runs dry--a problem that can be solved only by acquiring more spectrum licenses.
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