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AT&T Misleads Customers by Updating Phones With Fake 5G Icon (theverge.com)
As promised, AT&T has updated three smartphones from Samsung and LG to make them show 5G connectivity logos, even though none of them are capable of connecting to 5G networks. From a report: Now, when the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active, LG V30, or LG V40 are connected to portions of AT&T's LTE network that have received some speed-boosting updates, they'll show an icon that says "5G E" instead of "LTE." That "E" in the "5G" logo is supposed to tip you off that this isn't real 5G -- just some marketing nonsense. But there's no way of knowing that just from looking at the logo. The "E" is smaller than the rest of the icon. And even if you do learn that "5G E" stands for "5G Evolution," it isn't immediately clear what that means.
Isn't this an old story from a couple of days ago?
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
They did this with 4G and HSPA+ as well.
Nope, "expensive." As soon as this appears on your phone, expect a $25 "5G connectivity" charge to magically appear on your bill.
There's a special place in hell for marketeers.
It's called "Ring 9 E".
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The icon on mine says 11G . . . most phones only go up to 10G . . . but mine goes up to 11G!
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Since the 5G "Evolution" protocol is in theory different from the existing 4G protocols, having the phone indicate that it is using the different protocol is useful. Sure the icon itself implies something that isn't true (aka marketing) and we can grumble about the inaccuracies of the symbol, but having the phone indicate what kind of network it is talking to is information that I like to have.
No they won't. They didn't win last time when AT&T did the same shit labeling HSPA+ as "4G". There were articles just like this saying that they were misleading customers then too and nothing at all happened to them over it. Just another day of companies lying to us.
To provide a slightly contrary opinion -- I am of the general belief that if you are unaware or unable to tell the difference in performance about something (and be honest with yourself), then don't make decisions based on that as a symbol of what you think you need. If you don't know what LTE or this "E" after 5G means, or even what 5G is, then don't throw your money after it. You are bound to be deceived or end up paying for something you don't need.
Just like Rolexes or other status symbols -- if I can see only the same performance as a good old quartz wristwatch, I'm much safer not opening myself up to be defrauded by fakes and knockoffs by chasing things I can't perceive the value of.
You must have a really ancient PC. I haven't seen a turbo button in a long time.
However, at one time the turbo button actually DID do something. When it stopped doing something it was always-on, not never on.
Turbo buttons had a purpose, they were so you could slow your PC down to 4 or 8 MHz (depending on generation) so software using CPU clock cycles for timing instead of real time would run like they did on the IBM they were written for. Yeah, real time clocks were optional on the first PCs.
There was a little helicopter in a tunnel game called Stryker written for CGA graphics on the IBM XT I think (It was a few weeks ago) and on our Tandy 1000 TX it was unplayably fast unless you un-turboed the PC.
Also worked at a place that sold PCs, and we had an early generic Pentium 60 machine, I think it was a Quantex if anybody remembers them, and the turbo button on that actually slowed it down to 8MHz. Since turbo buttons change clockspeed on the fly, it was kinda fun to play with that one.
"Proximity to wonder has blunted our perception and appreciation of it" --Tim Hartnell in 'Exploring ARTIFICIAL INTELLI
The controversy and confusion comes from the fact that Verizon Wireless’s new LTE technology and AT&T’s enhanced 3G technology are both referred to as 4G. Once again, no standards are in place to prevent such confusion. This has created a situation where advertisements can claim that AT&T has a larger 4G network than Verizon Wireless, without informing customers that the two networks are vastly different. Verizon Wireless’s 4G LTE is up to 10 times faster. To further complicate matters, AT&T realized the limitation of its 4G network and has also started developing an LTE network of comparable speed . At this point, AT&T’s LTE network is much smaller than Verizon Wireless’s –approximately one tenth the size at time of publication of this article.Another issue is latency, which is the delay that occurs when wireless signals are being transmitted to and from a phone through the tower and network. LTE latency is approximately one quarter the latency of 3G service and significantly less than 4G networks that do not utilize LTE. This is especially important for video conferencing, streaming video and other real-time data applications that require latency of less than 50 ms to function effectively . If a distinction is not drawn between 4G LTE and 4G that is simply enhanced 3G, customers can end up with a disappointing user experience. The bottom line is that few customers are aware of these differences, and without regulations or industry standards, they are vulnerable to highly misleading, yet technically accurate claim
What is old is new again.