AT&T Now Official Wireless Provider

[Len90]

As an AT&T customer this is welcome news for me. I do recall how bad my service was on Disney property when I was there in May. They definitely need all those enhancements as it will bring reliable voice coverage throughout the property and probably allow LTE data service. I do know from being in Universal last week that the AT&T service was a lot better there. This does make me question what will happen to all the Verizon equipment on the resort?

[Wizzard419]

They probably just trash it, send it back to Verizon, or send the equipment to charity and get the tax write-off (if Disney owns it outright).

[Club33Hopeful]

Why would they trash it as opposed to just leave it in place?

[Wizzard419]

Because AT&T might get bitchy that it has to share real estate, that and being "The official" provider usually means "exclusive".

[Club33Hopeful]

Because AT&T might get bitchy that it has to share real estate, that and being "The official" provider usually means "exclusive".

Official provider means exclusive branding, not that the other providers cannot have service. Disneyland currently has towers with equipment from multiple carriers even though Verizon was the official provider. I can see Disney not allowing Verizon to expand their presence, but I cannot see them making them take down their equipment.

[Wizzard419]

For the right price they sure can...

[Club33Hopeful]

For the right price they sure can...

But why would they even want to do that? They get revenue from the other carriers that are not the preferred carrier, and better coverage on other networks means better customer satisfaction. You are correct, for the right price they would, but it would have to be a price high enough to overcome all of the negatives of taking it away. I believe that price is way more than any carrier would be willing to pay.

[Wizzard419]

Because money! For exclusivity they would need to cover whatever income was coming in for the other towers lease but also increase it. The downside for the providers is they are knowingly paying more for the tower, but the up side is being able to promote it as well as being able to charge the competition for use of their network.

They wouldn't kill the old towers and put nothing there, but rather switch them over to the carrier and add more towers to handle the needed capacity. So in reality, Disney would be benefiting by getting more money and better coverage.

[theBIGyowski]

they will not do anything with the existing Verizon towers/antennas/etc because they don't need to

AT&T can just add antennas to the existing towers that have Verizon antennas on them. I doubt that Verizon owned the towers to begin with...and because of that...AT&T will not own the towers. Besides...it is in Disney's best interest to make sure everyone has quality cell phone coverage to make sure guest satisfaction is high.

Now...if there are places where existing Verizon antennas have been "hidden" by Imagineers to give more coverage...those antennas could possibly be replaced with AT&T counterparts if simply adding AT&T ones won't work. That is really the only scenario I could see Disney removing Verizon antennas in favor of AT&T ones.

[Club33Hopeful]

but the up side is being able to promote it as well as being able to charge the competition for use of their network.

Except not all carriers use the same network. For example, Sprint, or any CDMA carrier, has not been the preferred provider for the parks, yet their are CDMA towers within Disneyland.

[Club33Hopeful]

they will not do anything with the existing Verizon towers/antennas/etc because they don't need to

AT&T can just add antennas to the existing towers that have Verizon antennas on them. I doubt that Verizon owned the towers to begin with...and because of that...AT&T will not own the towers. Besides...it is in Disney's best interest to make sure everyone has quality cell phone coverage to make sure guest satisfaction is high.

Now...if there are places where existing Verizon antennas have been "hidden" by Imagineers to give more coverage...those antennas could possibly be replaced with AT&T counterparts if simply adding AT&T ones won't work. That is really the only scenario I could see Disney removing Verizon antennas in favor of AT&T ones.

I think this is spot on.

[Wizzard419]

Yes, just because an exclusive/preferred provider doesn't use it for their own network doesn't usually mean they can't install hardware and charge, for example, sprint, for the coverage.

[theBIGyowski]

Plus...if a third party owns the towers...like Disney or Reedy Creek or whatever they are called...they would probably gladly have more carriers pay them to have their antennas on their towers. I tend to think that is how it will work anyway.

[Wizzard419]

From what I recall, they broker usage with the providers, the benefit being that the carriers do not have to build more towers or equipment, the customer's rate stays low and everyone is happy. The problem is when you travel internationally, the carriers do not get the discounted rate so they basically end up paying full price which means a huge bill for the customer, which leads to the customer looking at alternative means of making phone calls when traveling.

[theBIGyowski]

From what I recall, they broker usage with the providers, the benefit being that the carriers do not have to build more towers or equipment, the customer's rate stays low and everyone is happy. The problem is when you travel internationally, the carriers do not get the discounted rate so they basically end up paying full price which means a huge bill for the customer, which leads to the customer looking at alternative means of making phone calls when traveling.

which may be one of the reasons TDO eventually caved and doled out free Wi-Fi...to give those guests access to everything they (TDO) want you to have access to

I wonder if AT&T will eventually sponsor an attraction or pavilion again. I want to say it's been a while since they sponsored SSE.