The battle over who has the better 3G network is no longer a head-to-head battle between Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Verizon has dragged Sprint into the melee, challenging the smaller carrier's ad
claim to have the "most dependable" 3G network.
Backing Verizon's complaint, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus Tuesday recommended that Sprint stop
running ads with the "most dependable" claim. Citing Nielsen's most recent "drive tests" of wireless data services, the NAD ruled Verizon had fewer dropped calls and performed better in terms of
session reliability.
Sprint said it planned to appeal the decision. Earlier this year, AT&T a filed a challenge with the NAD over Verizon ads boasting the carrier has "America's most reliable" 3G network. That dispute is now pending in federal court in New York after Verizon filed an
action seeking a ruling on the truthfulness and accuracy of its ad claims.
Verizon won a separate court ruling last week when a federal judge in Atlanta denied AT&T's request for a temporary
restraining order to halt Verizon's campaign featuring red and blue maps showing the carrier has five times more 3G coverage than AT&T.
T-Mobile must feel left out. The smallest of the four
major U.S. carriers only started rolling out its 3G network last year and isn't about to boast about having the most reliable or fastest network. Especially after the Sidekick service outage debacle.
But it does try to compete with the other three on pricing. Its currently touts its new Even More Plus plans as half the price of comparable Verizon or AT&T plans. But the claim on its site also
comes with an asterisk directing users to the fine print below explaining the assertion more fully. That might just save T-Mobile from getting hauled before the NAD or worse. But given the intense
competition among the biggest wireless operators, don't bank on it.