Verizon stays ahead of AT&T network upgrades

Funny, funny: we just talked about AT&T’s EDGE upgrade, and now we find a story on Verizon upping its own network at the end of last week. Unlike AT&T, though, Verizon didn’t send out a spokesman to say that it has nothing to do with the release of the iPhone. To evoke a cliche, Verizon’s silence is deafening. Everything they’ve done over the past few weeks has been iPhone-centric, and in our humble opinion, they’ve done a good job of keeping their service at the forefront of the wireless industry. Their latest upgrade: Rev. A of their EV-DO network. Remember how we said that AT&T’s upgraded EDGE network was running at capacities of over 200 kbps on Thursday night? Yeah, well, Verizon’s EV-DO Rev. A network provides up to 1.4 mbps (that’s megabits per second). So yeah, that’s roughly seven times faster than AT&T’s network. Don’t you wish you had your iPhone running on this network? Of course, the same caveat applies to the EV-DO network: its max speed is dependent on the number of users on the network. But hey, you’d obviously rather share a 1.4 mbps network with 1,000 people than a 200 kbps network with the same. File that in the “no brainer” category. We hate to show obvious bias, but we’re really digging Verizon right now. They’re doing plenty to keep pace with the iPhone, and we think that it will pay off in the long run — that is, after the novelty of the gadget has worn off. Now, if they could just do something about upgrading their INpulse prepaid plans. Then we’d really love them. [Mobile Burn]]]>