Sprint Sues AT&T Over Fake 5G Branding
America’s least-favorite phone network has sued America’s least-honest phone network in a fight seemingly cherry-picked to leave you conflicted over who to root for.
Sprint’s lawsuit, filed in federal court, claims that 54 percent of customers it surveyed believed that “5G E” networks were equal to or better than 5G and that 43 percent believed that buying an AT&T 5G E phone would mean they had purchased 5G service when neither of these things is true. These are, of course, precisely the benefits AT&T is attempting to claim for itself via marketing when it hasn’t delivered the technological improvements to actually use them.
AT&T provided the following statement to Engadget:
We understand why our competitors don’t like what we are doing, but our customers love it. We introduced 5G Evolution more than two years ago, clearly defining it as an evolutionary step to standards-based 5G. 5G Evolution and the 5GE indicator simply let customers know when their device is in an area where speeds up to twice as fast as standard LTE are available. That’s what 5G Evolution is, and we are delighted to deliver it to our customers.
We will fight this lawsuit while continuing to deploy 5G Evolution in addition to standards-based mobile 5G. Customers want and deserve to know when they are getting better speeds. Sprint will have to reconcile its arguments to the FCC that it cannot deploy a widespread 5G network without T-Mobile while simultaneously claiming in this suit to be launching “legitimate 5G technology imminently.”
As an AT&T customer since 2003, I’d like to offer my own opinion on the company’s activities. I do not appreciate being lied to. I do not value false advertising or marketing claims with no basis in reality. Speaking as an AT&T customer, I feel the 5G E program has provided negative value by demonstrating that the cellular company I contract with has no problem lying to its customers about the quality and type of technology it deploys across its network. I would happily and immediately quit this wretched company if I had the option of a carrier I believed to be materially better in any meaningful way.
There is no “5G E.” 5G E is called LTE. There is no performance improvement. There is no validity. This is exactly the same kind of BS that AT&T and T-Mobile pulled with “4G” versus LTE, and while the two companies got away with it last time around, I’m hoping to see AT&T’s attempt to scam its customers blown out of federal court. Even if it means supporting Sprint.
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