I was surplussed recently, even though I look at it as early retirement, and it does seem that Verizon has always been run a bit better than AT&T. I'm not saying this with 'sour grapes' but their stock always seemed to do much better than ours. It also seems they are treating their managers much better than AT&T does. I know AT&T has a huge amount of debt with the TW buyout but Verizon just seems better run.
I feel sorry for those at AT&T that are trying to get to the number of 75. For those with good degrees it might be best to look elsewhere. Layoffs have been every quarter, for a few years and will continue, and I would not want that if I was young with a good degree. Older people close to the magic number of 75 just need to hope they last long enough to get that number.