5G is on the horizon and with that being the case, network providers all over the world are trying their level best to be the first ones out of the gate with the new technology. Some networks are in fact trying so hard that they are slightly bending the truth and misleading customers as to whether or not their networks actually have 5G connectivity.
AT&T caught redhanded
In what must be one of the weirdest marketing ploys of the year, AT&T made it such that the internet label on some devices would appear with a 5G E sign. According to them, 5G E means 5G Evolution. Why this makes sense to them is beyond me. For one how can you offer an ‘evolution’ of something when you don’t even offer the real thing?
According to The Verge, this sign is appearing on 17 devices including the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active and LG V30 which (if you follow news about phones you’ll know) are not anywhere near being 5G enabled.
Should this even be legal?
It’s a weird move and really misleading. To people who are not spec-savvy, they might buy one of these 17 devices or move over to AT&T because of their 5G enabled network. It may just be a marketing move but there should be some sort of action taken against the network provider as their 5G E network isn’t even that much faster than their normal LTE network and are basically employing the same technologies as these 4G LTE networks.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened so I doubt AT&T will be taken to court for this. It’s similar to when network carriers in the US once again jumped the gun and rebranded 3G networks to HSPA+ and acted like these networks were 4G when they were only refined and faster versions of existing 3G technologies. Equally this 5G E is an almost 5G kind of technology = a refined version of 4G.
Why not just go to 9G instead
T-Mobile took notice of this weird move by their rival and they took to Twitter to announce that they’ll be upgrading to 9G since it’s so easy.
didn’t realize it was this easy, brb updating pic.twitter.com/dCmnd6lspH
— T-Mobile (@TMobile) January 7, 2019
It’s a funny tweet, made even funnier by the fact that T-Mobile was one of the first ones to call their HSPA+ network a 4G network. Amazing what time does to memory isn’t it…
