AT&T's "5G E" will be tested in court. Yesterday, Sprint filed a lawsuit in federal district court alleging that by rebranding its gigabit 4G LTE service as "5G Evolution," AT&T "violates federal and state laws governing false advertising and deceptive acts."
The lawsuit, first reported by Engadget, focuses on the idea that consumers will purchase AT&T phones because they incorrectly believe they will provide 5G service. It points to a survey conducted by Sprint that says 43 percent of consumers think that if they buy an AT&T phone, it will be 5G capable.
No current phones are 5G capable.
"AT&T's false and misleading statements deceive consumers into believing that AT&T now operates a 5G wireless network and, through this deception, AT&T seeks to induce consumers to purchase or renew AT&T's services when they might otherwise have purchased Sprint's services," Sprint says.
In a recent survey conducted by PCMag, more than four out of five Americans have no idea what 5G is. Compounding the confusion, 17 percent of respondents said they already have 5G—and a full quarter of people who answered "yes" to the question, "Do you know what 5G means?" said they already have it.
The Washington Post's Brian Fung spoke to one of Sprint's lawyers this morning and said the carrier is "going it alone," without plans to involve other carriers in the suit.
Verizon, however, weighed in with support via a tweet from its head of external communications.
5Ge. It's pretend, it's fake, it's the kind of BS that gives marketers, communicators businesses and the wireless industry a black eye. So let's have some fun. Some people call it "Faux Five G". There's "5G Eventually". What's your name for @ATT false marketing? — Jeffrey Nelson (@JNels) February 8, 2019
AT&T Defends and Attacks
It appears that for now, AT&T is doubling down on the concept that consumers aren't confused by "5G E" and don't believe it's the same as 5G-NR, the technology that most of the industry calls "5G."
"We feel very comfortable with how we've characterized the new service that we're launching," AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told CNBC this morning.
AT&T followed up with a statement to CNBC that didn't address the issue of confusion. "We've brought the '5G E' indicator to some of our most popular and capable smartphones simply to help customers know when they are in an area where the enhanced wireless experience may be available," the statement said. The company added that 5G-NR coverage would be labeled as "5G+" and low-band 5G coverage would simply be labeled "5G."
In a different statement to Mobile World Live, AT&T deployed a bit of whataboutery, saying that Sprint's lawsuit contradicts its merger filing with T-Mobile.
"Sprint will have to reconcile its arguments to the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] that it cannot deploy a widespread 5G network without T-Mobile while simultaneously claiming in this suit to be launching 'legitimate 5G technology imminently.'"
On AT&T's own forums, some—but not all—consumers appear confused. "I received an update on my phone ... to allow access to the new 5G network," one forum poster wrote. The poster is using a Samsung Galaxy S9, which does not have actual 5G support, but does display the "5G E" icon.
Sprint's chances are murky because of the dark history of rebranding wireless networks. In 2010 and 2011, first T-Mobile, then AT&T started calling the 3G HSPA+ technology "4G" for marketing reasons; eventually the ITU, the global body which decides these things, rolled over and declared that to be fine.
At the moment, the ITU defines "5G" as something distinct from LTE. But AT&T could well argue that "5G" doesn't actually mean anything, or that it means what carriers say it means. As 4G LTE will be aggregated with 5G-NR in 5G networks, AT&T could also argue (accurately) that LTE is a component of 5G, so they might as well call it 5G. What are words? We'll see what the court decides.