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AT&T sued by Sprint, must defend decision to tell users that 4G is "5G E"

Sprint is suing AT&T, alleging that AT&T's misleading "5G E" advertising campaign violates laws prohibiting false advertising and deceptive acts and practices.

AT&T renamed a large portion of its 4G network, calling it "5G E," for "5G Evolution." But as we've written, what AT&T calls 5G E consists of technologies that are part of the years-old 4G LTE-Advanced standard and are already used by Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint on their 4G networks. Despite that, AT&T has been advertising this supposed upgrade to 5G E and even changing network indicators on smartphones from 4G to 5G E.AT&T decides 4G is now "5G," starts issuing icon-changing software updates

"By making the false claim that it is offering a 5G wireless network where it offers only a 4G LTE Advanced network, AT&T is attempting to secure an unfair advantage in the saturated wireless market," Sprint wrote in a complaint filed yesterday in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. "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 alleged that AT&T violated a US law prohibiting false advertising and New York state laws against deceptive acts and practices and false advertising. Sprint asked the court for monetary damages and an injunction preventing AT&T from using 5G or 5G E branding "until the wireless network that AT&T advertises as '5GE,' '5G E,' or '5G Evolution,' or any designation containing '5G,' complies with 3GPP 5G standards." Sprint's complaint cites reporting from Ars and other news outlets.AT&T defends misleading "5G" network icons on 4G phones

[...] AT&T continued its defiance today.

"We understand why our competitors don't like what we are doing, but our customers love it," AT&T said in a statement provided to Ars. "We introduced 5G Evolution more than two years ago, clearly defining it as an evolutionary step to standards-based 5G. 5G Evolution and the 5G E indicator simply let customers know when their device is in an area where speeds up to twice as fast as standard LTE are available. That's what 5G Evolution is, and we are delighted to deliver it to our customers."

AT&T said it "will fight this lawsuit while continuing to deploy 5G Evolution in addition to standards-based mobile 5G," and that "customers want and deserve to know when they are getting better speeds."

AT&T also took a shot at Sprint's claims that it can't deploy a robust 5G network unless US regulators approve its proposed merger with T-Mobile.

"Sprint will have to reconcile its arguments to the FCC that it cannot deploy a widespread 5G network without T-Mobile while simultaneously claiming in this suit to be launching 'legitimate 5G technology imminently,'" AT&T said.

Previously: AT&T Misleads Customers by Updating Phones With Fake 5G Icon

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