Verizon 4G outages seen harming its reputation

While Verizon Wireless built its following in the US mainly on the quality of its network, touting its reliability over rival AT&T Inc, a series of network outages could damage the hard built reputation of the largest US wireless carrier, according to industry experts.
 
Verizon Wireless said yesterday that the third outage of its fourth-generation network, which transfers data at faster speeds had been fixed. Customers had earlier complained they were getting only third-generation signals or no signal at all. The carrier is seen as a leader in offering products that run on a 4G network, a point it harps on in its advertisements.

While AT&T's iPhone customers had a hard time with dropped calls on its 3G network in large markets such as New York and San Francisco, Verizon gained reputation as a more reliable network, with its ubiquitous ''Can you hear me now?'' ads.

According to analysts, Verizon spent billions to say they had the highest quality network and they were able to also back up that claim. They add that particularly for a company like Verizon this was a big problem.

However, Verizon's stumbles could not come at a worse time as wireless carriers offer customer holiday deals to lure them into signing two-year contracts. But, additionally, the carrier faces new competition next year from Sprint Nextel Corp, which is building its own 4G networks using a similar wireless standard, called long-term evolution, or LTE.
 
According to analysts, outages that Verizon Wireless was suffering could be expected on a new network and things would be sorted out over time. They say this was the largest active 4G LTE network and some hiccups could be expected.

The carrier is in the process of consolidating its 4G network, which includes a $4 billion deal to buy capacity from a consortium of cable companies as also a swap of airwaves
with pay-as-you-go carrier Leap Wireless International Inc.

According to AT&T. it failed a $39 billion bid for Deutsche Telekom AG subsidiary T-Mobile US, which was necessary to help it reach more people in the US more efficiently with 4G LTE service.