These two telco giants share the same mother, Ma Bell that is, but apparently broadband runs thicker than blood. Jenna Wortham breaks it down for The New York Times:

“I’m not sure iPhone users are ready for life in the slow lane,” Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman, said in a company statement.

Say what!

“AT&T is known for a lot of things, but network quality is not one of them,” said Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless. “Typically companies try to call attention to their strongest suit. It must be backwards day at AT&T.”

Oh snap, backwards day. 

AT&T may be treading in dangerous territory. For the last several years, Verizon has ranked in the top tier of customer satisfaction, while AT&T has sunk to the bottom, according to Consumer Reports. In a head-to-head insult war, Verizon is going to have way more firepower. 

Luckily for AT&T, most of their customers aren't going anywhere. Eighty percent of iPhone users are on a family plan, and 75 percent still have one year left on their contracts. 

bpopper at observer dot com - @benpopper