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Sprint Sues AT&T Over 5G Branding (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the see-you-in-court dept.

Sprint Corp sued AT&T late on Thursday, saying it is misleading consumers into believing that they are using fifth generation wireless network, known as 5G, a technology that has not yet been widely deployed. From a report: AT&T customers are seeing "5G E" logo on their mobile devices in over 400 markets. Although users are still using 4G network, AT&T is calling it 5G Evolution, a faster version of its existing network and a first step on the road to 5G. 5G can offer data speeds up to 50 or 100 times faster than 4G networks.

8 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Where is the FTC? by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sprint Corp sued AT&T late on Thursday, saying it is misleading consumers into believing that they are using fifth generation wireless network, known as 5G, a technology that has not yet been widely deployed.

    It's kind of annoying that the FTC (or whatever three letter agency with jurisdiction) isn't sitting on them hard about this fraud. Marketing spin is one thing but this is pretty deeply shady.

    1. Re:Where is the FTC? by omnichad · · Score: 2

      Someone has to prove that "5G" actually means something when generational labels are mostly just marketing fluff.

    2. Re:Where is the FTC? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In this case, I would think the FCC would also be involved. But guess who is head of the FCC? Ajit Pai. That gives you an answer why they are not involved.

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      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    3. Re:Where is the FTC? by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      I'm glad that Sprint is stepping up and taking this on. Under the current administration the FCC is less than useless.

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      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  2. The U.S. government needs FAR better management. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2

    I wish the U.S. government managed effectively. Government should limit corporate abuse.

  3. Re:AT&T is calling it 5G Evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    that's what the "4G LTE" bullshit was.. fake "4G" that didn't quite meet the actual specs for it.. so technically, at&t's "5G E" is actually 3G (aka " 3.95G") masquerading as 4G but they're calling it 5G.

  4. Re:Sprint did the same thing in the past by Solandri · · Score: 2

    I had an Epic 4G. It supported WiMax, which was a legit 4G service. It lost out to LTE due to higher power consumption and inferior bandwidth utilization. Sprint eventually converted its WiMax towers to LTE, but that was long after I'd replaced the phone. In the areas which had WiMax coverage, I typically got 15-20 Mbps, vs about 1-3 Mbps for 3G. (Course the phone wold die in 2 hours from the battery drain of using WiMax...)

  5. 4.5G by sixsixtysix · · Score: 2

    Why not be smart and use 4.5G?

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