Verizon regains lead in Wireless subscribers

Uh oh, so wait I thought Cingular had 61 million, they lost customers?

 

I didn't realize that they were that close!

 

First of all, this is old news. Verizon has had more direct retail subscribers than Cingular for a long time. The problem is Verizon is so desperate to reclaim the #1 spot that they have to find any means possible to force their way to be #1 again, even if it means inventing new categories.

Let's emphasize that the key word here is "direct retail subscribers." They are NOT talking about TOTAL subscribers which Cingular still has the lead by over 2 million subs.

 

And Cingular always will have the lead too. Hey, is it time for those quarterly results to come out yet? I always love the carrier wars that are stirred up every time those results are released.

 

Well to Verizon's credit and though it may not be directly related to new subscribers, their phone line up is improving a bit, notice how they are carrying similar Motorola phones to other carriers now, where as before it seemed that LG used to be their dominant phone line up.

 

Yes Tony I have noticed this. One thing I also noticed that hasn't changed on all their Motorola models is that crappy standard UI menu, and those ugly red bars. Now if Verizon would only do something about that then I'd say they really have improved.

 

And say maybe enabling OBEX on their handsets?

 

Bite your tongue, Verizon would go bankrupt if they did that. :lmao:

 

Here's a good example, VZW will now carry the L7 :

 

Don't forget about the Motorola MAXX Ve http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2007/01/29/hands-on-verizon-motorola-maxx/ You can see by the pictures that this Motorola model should also be coming to Verizon some time soon.

 

No of course not, that is one one we discussed in this thread, this is one i really wanted Cingular to get but only came as far as an unbranded version without the 850mHz band.

BTW, my apologies to TNDan, it wasn't my intention to hijack your thread.

So back to the topic at hand, so this is only based on the number of "direct retail subscribers" and not "total" subscribers Bobolito?

 

Well, yes, that's what the article says: "Verizon became the new market leader in terms of total direct retail subscribers/customers..."

Notice how they precede with the word "total" to make it seem something else and confuse people. I think that's the root of the confusion in this thread. It got you all really good, didn't it?

Needless to say, this article is just one of many marketing attempts at trying to seem bigger than what they are.

 

I wouldn't say that. AT&T and Verizon have debated the #1 spot since the late 90's when AT&T Wireless was #1, then Verizon reclaimed the title for the first time in 2000 (when it was formed), only to be taken back by AT&T/Cingular in 2004. Cingular was still formed by AT&T in one way or another since Cingular was formed by predecessors of AT&T (Ma Bell) anyway. So this new AT&T of 2007 is just the same family reunited all over again. The only thing was that between 2000 and 2004 the family was split into two: Cingular and AT&T Wireless.

Only time will tell if Verizon reclaims the #1 spot again. It seems quite possible to me since they are closing the gap quarter after quarter. I also don't think that's bad for competition.

 

Cingular has more total customers due to wholesale subscribers. In other words they have more customers due to people using Tracfone (pre-pay users) and other MNVO's that use Cingular's network. And that is not a bad thing at all.

But...most "wall street types" put more stock into direct post-paid subscribers and thats why Verizon is getting kudos. People using the pre-pay phones usually have a higher attrition rate which corrolates into a little higher churn rate for the wholesale network provider. Pre-pay users also have a lower ARPU rate compared to post-paid customers.

I hope Verizon and AT&T always stay fairly close so the competition stays heated, thats good for us customers!

 

Verizon has actually become somewhat more lax about bluetooth on some of their latest phones.
It's still restrictive, but not as bad as before.

 

And that's why us customers always should scream out these abuses of control. If it hadn't been for the lawsuits, the constant complaints and the blogs and forum posts and some of the media with negative publicity for this practice, Verizon would probably be more restrictive now.

 

You are right- the internet is a great resource to use against these corporations, but the best thing is always to vote with your wallet.

 

Maybe Cingular should get the hint here & realize their pricing plans for data is so bad, that people don't want them & this is why Verizon & Sprint/Nextel are beating them in the ARPU (including data).

I agree & if Verizon does come out ahead of Cingular/AT&T in total subscribers, then I am sure it will become even more heated and better for us customers.

Unfortunatly, it seems the only way these guys seem to be heating anything up is the cost's of their phones & not plans.

 

That's good to hear, with that Maxx Ve coming to Verizon it would be tempting.

Yes i remember how some of this started with the v710

 

VZW overtakes AT&T, Regains #1 spot ...

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/04/11/verizon-retakes-us-wireless-subscriber-lead-from-atandt/

 

Re: VZW overtakes AT&T, Regains #1 spot ...

Engadget....one of my favorite sites, yet they always post news late and innacurate. Everyone jumped the gun on this..... VZ has more DIRECT RETAIL SUBSCRIBERS............... AT&T has more total subscribers

AT&T=61.3 Million
VERIZON=59.1 Million

 

I am not so sure about this, bobolito had made a chart, with the net adds of both by their quarterly results & I believe it was sometime in 08 that Verizon can theoretically overtake Cingular/AT&T in total customers.
It will be interesting to see the results when they come out for both carriers & SprintNextel.

 

I'm now a VZW customer again, and given my reputation for getting referrals into whatever carrier I am on this may even happen before the end of 2007!

 

Wow, when & why did you switch back?
If it were to happen before the end of 07, I would be going thru a goverment discount site/call & don't know if they will deal with the referals.

As for if I did, there are a lot of factors right now & money is the biggest, if I did switch I would have to buy 4 phones (maybe 2 since I would not go for a free one as well as 1 of my daughters). Also I may wait to see if Cingular does something similar, which I really hope they do since I can't complain about Cingular other then their higher prices compared to my Blue account.

 

My ER job now requires that I pick up some on call shifts and as a result I need a carrier that will give me better indoor coverage every where I go. T-Mobile is OK, but not great. And although I like Cingular, I wouldn't want to be in a contract with them. So I signed up today on a 1 year contract after doing an EasyPay trial for a few weeks.
I now have 3 phones for Verizon that will easily take care of my need to swap them out many times until I can upgrade again in 10 months.
The LG enV is an awesome phone. It's giving me a great signal every where I go including the basement at the Hospital.

 

Well Cingular can build their lead when all of the people flock to the iPhone........

 

Now that's something I'll be watching with great amusement. :lmao:

 

Unless they come out with a low priced iPhone, I don't think people will be flocking over as fast as some predict.
I know people that like it, but refuse to pay the price for the phones & I think Apple is working on a lower cost version, since they found this could be a problem for them.

 

Then everyone will get to experience the garbly half rate voice codec we are stuck with in So. Cali.