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Verizon Says It Won't Launch Fake 5G Icons Like AT&T Did (theverge.com)
Verizon and T-Mobile are calling out AT&T for starting a shady marketing tactic that labeled its 4G network as a 5G network. "In an open letter, in which AT&T is not named directly, Verizon says in part 'the potential to over-hype and under-deliver on the 5G promise is a temptation that the wireless industry must resist,'" reports TechCrunch. Meanwhile, T-Mobile directly called out AT&T, tweeting a short video of someone putting a sticky note reading "9G" on top of their iPhone's LTE icon. The Verge reports: The promise comes right as AT&T has started to roll out updates doing exactly that: changing the "LTE" icon in the corner of select phones into an icon reading "5G E." One might assume that a "5G E" connection is the same thing as a "5G" connection, but it's not. AT&T is just pretending that the faster portions of its LTE network are 5G and is trying to get a head start on the 5G marketing race by branding it "5G Evolution." T-Mobile isn't happy about the marketing nonsense either. Its CTO, Neville Ray, wrote that AT&T was "duping customers."
Verizon says it's "calling on the broad wireless industry to commit to labeling something 5G only if new device hardware is connecting to the network using new radio technology to deliver new capabilities" (emphasis Verizon's). Kyle Malady, Verizon's chief technical officer, says Verizon will lead by example and that "a clear, consistent, and simple understanding of 5G" is needed so consumers don't have to "maneuver through marketing double-speak or technical specifications." Malady says Verizon will "not call our 4G network a 5G network if customers don't experience a performance or capability upgrade that only 5G can deliver." But that isn't the same thing as saying "we won't label our network 5G unless it's 5G." In fact, if you turn that sentence into a positive statement, it says "we will only call our 4G network a 5G network if it delivers a 5G-like experience." The Verge notes that Verizon "has also been misleading about its jump into 5G." Last year, Big Red bragged about launching the "world's first commercial 5G service," even though "it wasn't mobile; it was home internet service that just happened to be delivered wirelessly during the final stretch to a subscriber's home; and it didn't use the global 5G standard -- it used a rival 5G standard created by Verizon."
Verizon says it's "calling on the broad wireless industry to commit to labeling something 5G only if new device hardware is connecting to the network using new radio technology to deliver new capabilities" (emphasis Verizon's). Kyle Malady, Verizon's chief technical officer, says Verizon will lead by example and that "a clear, consistent, and simple understanding of 5G" is needed so consumers don't have to "maneuver through marketing double-speak or technical specifications." Malady says Verizon will "not call our 4G network a 5G network if customers don't experience a performance or capability upgrade that only 5G can deliver." But that isn't the same thing as saying "we won't label our network 5G unless it's 5G." In fact, if you turn that sentence into a positive statement, it says "we will only call our 4G network a 5G network if it delivers a 5G-like experience." The Verge notes that Verizon "has also been misleading about its jump into 5G." Last year, Big Red bragged about launching the "world's first commercial 5G service," even though "it wasn't mobile; it was home internet service that just happened to be delivered wirelessly during the final stretch to a subscriber's home; and it didn't use the global 5G standard -- it used a rival 5G standard created by Verizon."
the problem would be solved if we switched to a more meaningful terminology such as:
-LTE network
-2 Gbps cellular network
Vz will put the 5G Lite logo and call it good.
Having phone saying its "5g" when phones hardware can't do that is false advertising as phone has hardware it doesn't have.
we need more non carrier roms
Of course Verizon won't do it like AT&T, they'll wait and do it like T-Mobile.
T-Mo goes to 11
I miss the days of "don't be evil."
... as usual
Verizon later clarified that it meant it will use a different fake icon for its phones. "When it comes to misleading the customers, we are second to none. The AT&T is a mere baby compared to veterans like us".
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Corporations are liars. They will lie without any kind of conscience whatsoever to get a perceived advantage. Don't worry, Verizon has lied in the past about its behavior and it will do it again. Verizon calling out AT&T is the pot calling the kettle black.
I kinda remember T-Mobile marketing their HSDPA+ network as "4G" despite the fact it's not a 4G technology. I mean, sure; I saw it pump out 45mbps downstream on a tower at 2am...so I mean it did deliver on the marketing hype; and if you dug deep enough they did specify the "4G" was just a marketing thing...and they did adopt the LTE thing when they finally got an LTE network.
Of course Verizon said they'd do the same thing if their 4G network performs like a 5G; and I guess you could call HSDPA a major improvement from whatever the last revision of EVDO was.
This is sounding a lot like the 8/16/32/64-bit console wars.
They just said it enough that people either believed it or tuned it out. They were running non stop ads for their service, and glomming on to other ads for devices, with an obnoxious narration of "VERIZON 4G LTE". A single 30 second ad spot would have that phrase in it 4 or 5 times.
The larger issue is that we have carrier-specific hardware in the USA, not just software. Many manufacturers offer generic models for sale in Canada and the Caribbean that cover most, if not all, of the bands allocated in North America. As example, both the Samsung GS9 G960U and G960W support every LTE band used by major carriers, including the new bands 66 and 71 and the rarely used hi bands 30, 41, and 46. There are even a few that support both GSM and CDMA. So it isn't as if the technology isn't available.
Biggest downside I've seen to using those universal unlocked phones is that carriers refuse to support VoWifi on them.
They did this with 4G. Here's a quote from an article from 2012:
The emptiness of 4G was highlighted last week, when people who installed the latest iPhone 4S operating system upgrade noticed something that seemed too good to be true: The network indicator on their phones began displaying “4G” rather than “3G.” This change occurred only for people who use AT&T’s cellular service; Verizon iPhone users who installed the upgrade still saw the 3G indicator. Some people took the change to mean that their phones had gotten faster wireless Internet access, but that wasn’t true—the OS upgrade did nothing to change how your phone communicates with cell towers. All that changed was AT&T’s marketing. Early last year, essentially overnight, AT&T began rebranding its 3G network as a 4G network. So now that tired old 3G phone is fresh again—lucky you, you’ve got 4G!
the only carrier i've seen to universally blacklist VoWifi is AT&T and company. (Cricket, etc). I've used unlocked phones on T-mo VoWifi/VoLTE and I've heard it works on VZW too
they will be leap-frogging to a 7G logo instead
Removing the carrier SIM lock [usually] doesn't revoke the ability to make Wifi calls. The encryption keys are still in the carrier-specific firmware and they still work. It is when you have a firmware that lacks those keys that you run into problems, which is usually the case with those carrier agnostic/universal handset models. You'd encounter the same issue if you replaced the stock firmware with a Lineage image or replaced it with a compatible firmware for another carrier.
5G has a minimum speed specification which this doesn't meet.
Story reminded me of this one. https://dilbert.com/strip/2004...
Not that actual logic is likely to make a difference, but... From the summary:
No, that positive statement is not the same thing. If you say you won't use the 5G label unless you're providing a capability that only 5G can deliver, then an upgraded 4G network (that's still 4G) can't qualify by providing a 5G-like experience: if 4G can provide it, then it's not something that only 5G can deliver.
What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!