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Title    Big Three Carriers Pay $10M to Settle Claims of False “Unlimited” Advertising
Date    Wednesday May 15, @01:20PM
Author    hubie
Topic   
from the business-as-usual dept.
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=24/05/14/045244

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/05/big-three-carriers-pay-10m-to-settle-claims-of-false-unlimited-advertising/

T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T will pay a combined $10.2 million in a settlement with US states that alleged the carriers falsely advertised wireless plans as "unlimited" and phones as "free." The deal was announced yesterday by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"A multistate investigation found that the companies made false claims in advertisements in New York and across the nation, including misrepresentations about 'unlimited' data plans that were in fact limited and had reduced quality and speed after a certain limit was reached by the user," the announcement said.

T-Mobile and Verizon agreed to pay $4.1 million each while AT&T agreed to pay a little over $2 million. The settlement includes AT&T subsidiary Cricket Wireless and Verizon subsidiary TracFone.
[...]
The carriers denied any illegal conduct despite agreeing to the settlement. In addition to payments to each state, the carriers agreed to changes in their advertising practices. It's unclear whether consumers will get any refunds out of the settlement, however.
[...]
The three carriers agreed that all advertisements to consumers must be "truthful, accurate and non-misleading." They also agreed to the following changes, the NY attorney general's office said:

  • "Unlimited" mobile data plans can only be marketed if there are no limits on the quantity of data allowed during a billing cycle.
  • Offers to pay for consumers to switch to a different wireless carrier must clearly disclose how much a consumer will be paid, how consumers will be paid, when consumers can expect payment, and any additional requirements consumers have to meet to get paid.
  • Offers of "free" wireless devices or services must clearly state everything a consumer must do to receive the "free" devices or services.
  • Offers to lease wireless devices must clearly state that the consumer will be entering into a lease agreement.
  • All "savings" claims must have a reasonable basis. If a wireless carrier claims that consumers will save using its services compared to another wireless carrier, the claim must be based on similar goods or services or differences must be clearly explained to the consumer.

The advertising restrictions are to be in place for five years.

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Original Submission

Links

  1. "Freeman" - https://soylentnews.org/~Freeman/
  2. "announced yesterday" - https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-secures-more-10-million-att-t-mobile-and-verizon-wireless
  3. "FCC Fines Major U.S. Wireless Carriers for Selling Customer Location Data" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=24/04/30/0153251
  4. "FCC Does the Bare Minimum: Asks Wireless Carriers to be Honest About Location Data" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=22/09/09/0348240
  5. "Verizon Wireless Adds Economic Adjustment Charge for Most Customers" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=22/05/20/124208
  6. "Google has been Paying Wireless Carriers Billions to Not Develop Competing App Stores" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/20/1553254
  7. "AT&T Exempts HBO Max From Data Caps but Still Limits Your Netflix Use" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/06/06/116208
  8. "AT&T Loses Key Ruling in Class Action over Unlimited-Data Throttling" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/02/22/029255
  9. "John Legere, T-Mobile's Brash "Un-Carrier" Chief, to Leave in May 2020" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/11/20/0241206
  10. "AT&T Imposes Another $5 Price Hike on Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plans" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/06/11/0716208
  11. "Court Rules FTC Data-Throttling Lawsuit Against AT&T Can Proceed" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/02/27/0315219
  12. "Verizon Wireless Divides Unlimited Plan Into Three Worse Options" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/08/23/0014208
  13. "T-Mobile and Verizon Mobile Plans Change; Probably Not Better for Consumers" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/01/10/2328248
  14. "The FTC is Suing AT&T for Throttling its Unlimited Data Customers" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/10/29/1122231
  15. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=62814

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printed from SoylentNews, Big Three Carriers Pay $10M to Settle Claims of False “Unlimited” Advertising on 2024-11-06 17:18:01