Updated with AT&T statement, below.
Sprint is suing AT&T over the latter’s decision to push a fake 5G label to both Android and iPhone smartphones when the coverage it actually offers is a version of 4G.
AT&T first started using the controversial 5G E label at the end of December, possibly in an attempt to be seen to make good on a promise it made at the beginning of last year …
The company said then that it would be the ‘first U.S. mobile company to introduce mobile 5G service in a dozen markets by late 2018.’
The 5G E label appeared first on Android phones, and was then pushed to iPhones and iPads as of the latest iOS 12.2 beta.
The problem, as we recently explained, is that 5G E isn’t a real standard – it’s purely a marketing term invented by AT&T. It is true that, where you see the label, you should be seeing faster speeds – but that’s because AT&T is delivering a version of 4G called LTE-Advanced, or LTE-A.
The reality is that no iPhones yet support 5G, and AT&T isn’t expected to offer true 5G for a year or more – and that’s why Sprint objects to the fake 5G branding.
Engadget reports that Sprint has filed a lawsuit because consumers are being mislead by the label.
As Engadget’s Richard Lawler notes, this is a re-rerun of 2012, when we saw 3G iPhones start displaying a 4G label on what was really a faster 3G service. In that case, both AT&T and T-Mobile were guilty.
In its claim, Sprint said it commissioned a survey that found 54 percent of consumers believed the “5GE” networks were the same as or better than 5G, and that 43 percent think if they buy an AT&T phone today it will be 5G capable, even though neither of those things are true. Sprint’s argument is that what AT&T is doing is damaging the reputation of 5G, while it works to build out what it calls a ” legitimate early entry into the 5G network space.”
You can read the lawsuit here.
AT&T told us:
We will fight this lawsuit while continuing to deploy 5G Evolution in addition to standards-based mobile 5G.
