Sprint is warning customers not to be fooled by AT&T’s “fake 5G” claims.
A month after the AT&T lawsuit, Sprint took out a full-page ad on Sunday New York Times to spread the word that AT&T’s “5G E” is really 4G. The advertisement takes the form of an article open letter and began:
Dear wireless customer,
While Sprint is working hard to deliver 5G mobile and the first 5G smartphone in the US, AT&T is hard at work trying to convince you that they’ve already won the race to 5G with something they call “5G Evolution.” That is the truth.
Don’t let it trick you. 5G Evolution is not new or true 5G. It’s a 5G myth. They would love for you to believe that they are different…better. It’s true that AT&T offers ordinary customers a nationwide 4G LTE network just like Sprint and all other major wireless carriers. It’s not 5G.
A lawsuit was filed against AT&T demanding that they immediately end their false and deceptive marketing campaign.
AT&T seems to be amused by the depth and breadth of their deception. AT&T admitted that the company’s 5G E announcement was strictly fiction to outline how they wanted the world to work — not a reflection of today’s reality.
Sprint’s open letter reiterates its own fraudulent claim that it needs to merge with T-Mobile in order to deliver a strong 5G network nationwide. However, Sprint said it plans to offer “real mobile 5G in nine major metro areas” by this summer, regardless of whether the merger is approved.
“Sprint is committed to taking the necessary steps to successfully launch 5G,” the open letter concluded. “AT&T would rather ignore these steps and say it won the race to 5G by making their existing network 5G. It’s not, and we won’t stand for it — and neither should you.”
We reached out to AT&T today and will update this story if we hear back.
Sprint’s open letter to customers.
Sprint
5G E is 4G LTE
The truth is that what AT&T calls 5G Evolution is actually 4G LTE. As previously written, AT&T says 5G E is different from its regular 4G network because it uses 256 QAM, 4×4 MIMO, and three-way carrier aggregation. But those technologies are part of year-old The LTE-Advanced standard is already used by Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint on their 4G networks.
AT&T is offering a real 5G network in parts of 12 cities, though it doesn’t yet have any smartphones running on it. Some of AT&T’s ads launch early 5G deployment, demonstrating that AT&T can run a completely fair marketing campaign that shows the real progress it has made to 5G. But AT&T also renamed large portions of its 4G network and in the process changed the 4G network indicator on smartphones to 5G E. AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan recently defended the misleading campaign, saying, “Every company is guilty of disinformation. how to do it. want the world to work, and I love the fact that we break down the details of our company. “
“AT&T doesn’t offer 5G to its customers but is frustrated by the confusion they’ve caused with their ‘5G E’ marketing gimmick and attempt to convince customers they’ve already won the 5G race,” Sprint Senior VP David Tovar said. say in one voice. declaration of Sprint’s open letter to customers.
Sprint said it commissioned a study that found 54 percent of consumers “wrongly believe, based on AT&T’s claims, that the company’s 5G E network is the same as or better than a true 5G network.” Additionally, “43 percent of consumers mistakenly believe that if they bought an AT&T phone today, it would have the ability to run on a 5G network,” Sprint said.
In its lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Sprint alleged that AT&T violated the law. US law false advertising is prohibited and New York state law against it practices and deceptive practices we had false advertising. Sprint is asking the court for monetary damages and an injunction preventing AT&T from continuing its 5G E marketing campaign.
The court has scheduled a hearing for April 22.