Verizon Wireless' LTE network back: Does outage deliver reputation hit?
Can you hear me now? If you've had Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network for the last two days you've suffered through an outage that can leave mobile broadband junkies grumpy for the last day.
We'll let Verizon Wireless' Twitter account tell the tale of woe:
As Matthew Miller noted, a speedy network does you no good if it's down. James Kendrick looked at how Verizon's various 4G devices performed during the outage.
Now there are two ways to look at this outage. First, you can just chalk it up to growing pains for a new network. Or you can wonder how Verizon Wireless---which talks non-stop about how great its network is---can go down for more than a day.
Today, most folks will cut Verizon Wireless some slack. Tomorrow that may not be the case.
And when you combine the LTE outage with the fact that only the HTC Thunderbolt is available as a 4G device, it's clear Verizon Wireless' supernetwork isn't mature just yet. Verizon Wireless was expected to launch the Samsung Charge today, but Engadget reports that debut has been put off. After all why would you launch a 4G device with spotty network?
Frankly, this LTE ramp has been a bit of a letdown and rockier than you'd expect out of Verizon. Verizon execs remain upbeat, but early adopters want their 4G---devices and rocksolid network---now. Verizon Wireless' growing pains are slowing down the migration---and its competitive edge.
Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said last week:
We expect demand for our 4G LTE products to strengthen as more smartphones, tablets and hotspots are added to our device portfolio. This includes the recent launch of the Novatel and Samsung mobile hotspots, as well as the addition of new 4G LTE smartphones in April, May and beyond.
That demand may not live up to expectations if there are questions about LTE's uptime.
Apple operating chief Tim Cook said on the company's most recent earnings call that there are still design compromises with LTE networks. Initially, it appeared that battery life was the big issue. I'm beginning to wonder if those compromises entail more.