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AT&T Communications Businesses Network United States

AT&T Misleads Customers by Updating Phones With Fake 5G Icon (theverge.com) 74

Posted by msmash from the new-lows dept.
As promised, AT&T has updated three smartphones from Samsung and LG to make them show 5G connectivity logos, even though none of them are capable of connecting to 5G networks. From a report: Now, when the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active, LG V30, or LG V40 are connected to portions of AT&T's LTE network that have received some speed-boosting updates, they'll show an icon that says "5G E" instead of "LTE." That "E" in the "5G" logo is supposed to tip you off that this isn't real 5G -- just some marketing nonsense. But there's no way of knowing that just from looking at the logo. The "E" is smaller than the rest of the icon. And even if you do learn that "5G E" stands for "5G Evolution," it isn't immediately clear what that means.
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AT&T Misleads Customers by Updating Phones With Fake 5G Icon More

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

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  • Oh the nerve of them! (Score:3, Informative)

    by bobbied ( 2522392 ) on Monday January 07, 2019 @04:07PM (#57919470)

    Isn't this an old story from a couple of days ago?

    • Re: Oh the nerve of them! (Score:5, Funny)

      by khandom08 ( 1319863 ) on Monday January 07, 2019 @04:10PM (#57919504)

      You must be new here.

    • Regarding AT&T this is very old news (Score:4, Informative)

      by mschaffer ( 97223 ) on Monday January 07, 2019 @05:52PM (#57920346)
      Not just from a few days ago, but AT&T pulled the same thing a few years ago: http://grudiassociates.com/wp-... [grudiassociates.com]

      The controversy and confusion comes from the fact that Verizon Wireless’s new LTE technology and AT&T’s enhanced 3G technology are both referred to as 4G. Once again, no standards are in place to prevent such confusion. This has created a situation where advertisements can claim that AT&T has a larger 4G network than Verizon Wireless, without informing customers that the two networks are vastly different. Verizon Wireless’s 4G LTE is up to 10 times faster. To further complicate matters, AT&T realized the limitation of its 4G network and has also started developing an LTE network of comparable speed . At this point, AT&T’s LTE network is much smaller than Verizon Wireless’s –approximately one tenth the size at time of publication of this article.Another issue is latency, which is the delay that occurs when wireless signals are being transmitted to and from a phone through the tower and network. LTE latency is approximately one quarter the latency of 3G service and significantly less than 4G networks that do not utilize LTE. This is especially important for video conferencing, streaming video and other real-time data applications that require latency of less than 50 ms to function effectively . If a distinction is not drawn between 4G LTE and 4G that is simply enhanced 3G, customers can end up with a disappointing user experience. The bottom line is that few customers are aware of these differences, and without regulations or industry standards, they are vulnerable to highly misleading, yet technically accurate claim

      What is old is new again.

  • The e is for evil

  • How misleading do you want to get (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Because 5G is actually what 4G should have been in the first place.

  • Nothing new here (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    They did this with 4G and HSPA+ as well.

  • Special place (Score:5, Funny)

    by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Monday January 07, 2019 @04:14PM (#57919546) Homepage

    There's a special place in hell for marketeers.
    It's called "Ring 9 E".

  • Only a puny 5G icon? (Score:5, Funny)

    by PolygamousRanchKid ( 1290638 ) on Monday January 07, 2019 @04:17PM (#57919574)

    The icon on mine says 11G . . . most phones only go up to 10G . . . but mine goes up to 11G!

  • There's a windows sticker or two on my laptop that seem to be super glued on.

    I've run windows on it twice.

    Once to create a backup in case I need to re-install if I resell it.

    The second time was to see if there was any way to manually control the system fans. (there wasn't)

    After that, it was scorched earth for windows. I've run linux on it exclusively for like 7 or 8 years.

    Moral of the story is, a sticker is just a sticker, unless you're trying to lie to people about supporting something that doesn't exist.

    • Ok, but your laptop can run Windows, and I'm guessing it was sold with Windows, and that's why the sticker was on it. What you did with it after that is your business.

      It'd be more comparable if you bought a laptop with a Windows sticker on it, but didn't have Windows installed and wasn't even capable of running Windows.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by bob4u2c ( 73467 )
        I have an old "HP 3000 Server" plaque you could use.

        At my previous job when I got a new computer I would ask to keep the old case and just move the guts. Anyone that saw my computer felt sorry that I was running something so old. Little did they know.

        After the first upgrade IT didn't even bother getting a complete computer, they just gave me a dollar amount I could spend. I then gave them a list of parts, and had the fastest thing in the company, with an old fashion i386 sticker on the front of the y
  • The icon looks real to me.

    I'm sure the marketing department worked very hard on it.

    Nevertheless I will want until the 6G icon comes out before buying.

  • The AT&T Logo should serve as the BS flag. I only had AT&T once in my life, on a work test phone (had an phone or sim card for each carrier in the US and Europe). AT&T was the worst cell provider customer service I ever experienced - they always tell you what you want to hear, facts be damned.

  • Inaccurate but useful (Score:3)

    by Nkwe ( 604125 ) on Monday January 07, 2019 @04:37PM (#57919734)
    Since the 5G "Evolution" protocol is in theory different from the existing 4G protocols, having the phone indicate that it is using the different protocol is useful. Sure the icon itself implies something that isn't true (aka marketing) and we can grumble about the inaccuracies of the symbol, but having the phone indicate what kind of network it is talking to is information that I like to have.

    • having the phone indicate that it is using the different protocol is useful

      That's good and fine, but unless it does 20Gbps using 15GHz which it does not by a long shot, it has no business displaying a 5 anywhere in the title bar. Call it what it is: LTE-A Pro.

  • to get upset over shit like this. The horror of it all!

  • AT&T being, well, AT&T (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    What, the world's scummiest phone company is doing something shady, deceptive, blatantly anti-consumer and borderline fraudulent?
    Well, I am shocked, absolutely shocked. Someone call the FCC, who will - I'm sure - step forward to defend the customers.

    Aaaaand that's my allowance of snark used up for the week. Damn, is it still only Monday?

  • I pressed it but it didn't do anything.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by sjames ( 1099 )

      You must have a really ancient PC. I haven't seen a turbo button in a long time.

      However, at one time the turbo button actually DID do something. When it stopped doing something it was always-on, not never on.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by kamakazi ( 74641 )

      Turbo buttons had a purpose, they were so you could slow your PC down to 4 or 8 MHz (depending on generation) so software using CPU clock cycles for timing instead of real time would run like they did on the IBM they were written for. Yeah, real time clocks were optional on the first PCs.
      There was a little helicopter in a tunnel game called Stryker written for CGA graphics on the IBM XT I think (It was a few weeks ago) and on our Tandy 1000 TX it was unplayably fast unless you un-turboed the PC.
      Also worked

  • For that marketing non-sense. All those who speak of 3G, 4G and/or 5G instead of using the actual technology name, or network speed are to blame.

  • I have ATT, and just picked up the LG V35. I see no 5G icon showing. Why would they skip a model for this?

  • don't deceive yourself (Score:3)

    by supernova87a ( 532540 ) <kepler1@@@hotmail...com> on Monday January 07, 2019 @04:48PM (#57919828)
    To provide a slightly contrary opinion -- I am of the general belief that if you are unaware or unable to tell the difference in performance about something (and be honest with yourself), then don't make decisions based on that as a symbol of what you think you need. If you don't know what LTE or this "E" after 5G means, or even what 5G is, then don't throw your money after it. You are bound to be deceived or end up paying for something you don't need.

    Just like Rolexes or other status symbols -- if I can see only the same performance as a good old quartz wristwatch, I'm much safer not opening myself up to be defrauded by fakes and knockoffs by chasing things I can't perceive the value of.
  • 4G showed as LTE, but when showed 4G is was 3G on their home networks. Then 3G was 3G on other networks. Am I remembering that correct?

  • Like I said before, "how expensive can it be having the marketing department put "5" stickers over the 4 in their advertising?"

  • Put on your tin foil hat for this one... A long time ago, the carriers figured out that it is way easier to demand the cell phone manufacturers modify the signal strength reading from "numbered decibels" to the now common "5 bars" icon, than to actually upgrade their networks. You see, this was back when providers charged "per minute", and they realized that users seeing a "low signal" meant that they were less likely to place a call. Same thing with the battery indicator. In the same vein, they also knew

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