You know how everyone makes fun of ATT's congested cellular network? Well, according to Bloomberg, VZW is having the same issue.

Verizon Wireless is America's most heavily used mobile-phone carrier, with 93 million monthly subscribers (second-place AT&T (T) has 71 million). The telecom has continued to attract more new customers than its biggest rivals in recent quarters with ad campaigns that boast about its network's speed. The only problem is that Verizon's network can't always handle the traffic load, and in some cases the subscriber connections have slowed dramatically.

Both claim that it is a spectrum issue, but I think it is a deployment issue. VZW is sitting on AWS spectrum. It just finished deploying LTE. Via Infoweek, "Verizon is essentially done building its LTE 4G network. The company recently announced that its LTE network covers 99% of its CDMA 3G footprint. That means about 95% of Americans, or 298 million people, have access to Verizon's LTE 4G network if they want it."

Now the cellcos will start re-purposing spectrum - 2.5G and 3G spectrum will be used for LTE. That means new phoens will only have LTE radios in them and utilize VoLTE.

So if the cellular network is congested, how can they in good faith migrate NJ and NY cities to LTE only to replace copper plant damaged during Storm Sandy? Will Fire Island become the test case? AARP is objecting to this switch.

If they are begging the FCC for more spectrum every week - and the CTIA keynotes about the spectrum crisis at every show - then how come you are pushing people to cellular - in landline repalcement, in mobile video, and other ways? These are 2 opposing ideas -- my network is congested // customers please use it more and depend on it for E-911!

Cellular service is NOT ubiquitous - see an article here. It is certainly not a replacement for landline -- no matter how much the new Verizon (run by VZW execs) wants the old Verizon Telecom (and its unions) to go away.