T-Mobile Will Stop Saying Its 5G Network Is Better Than It Actually Is

Earlier this week, the FCC fined T-Mobile $200 million for its abuse of Sprint's Lifeline program for low-income consumers -- the largest fine to be paid in commission history. Now, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising (NAD) is telling T-Mobile to tone down its misleading 5G claims about having the "best 5G network." Gizmodo reports: The NAD's investigation of T-Mobile's 5G claims, reported by Android Police, concluded yesterday. While the BBB division found that some of the carrier's post-Sprint merger claims had merit, like T-Mobile's assertion that it will build the nation's largest 5G network due to the merger, it asked the carrier to change the language of some of its other misleading claims. Specifically, the NAD took issue with T-Mobile telling consumers they will get the best 5G network. NAD said that consumers could "reasonably interpret" these claims to mean T-Mobile currently provides the best 5G network and that T-Mobile customers will "imminently" have 5G coverage when that's not currently the case.

"NAD determined that the challenged advertisements did not reasonably convey a present-tense message that the aspirational future benefits from T-Mobile are presently available to consumers," the group said. "NAD recommended that the challenged advertising be modified to avoid conveying such messages."

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[cusco]

As I pointed out to you the other day the Barlow post office is a counter with one person, a self-post machine, and some post office boxes. There is no mail sorting, no postmarking, no Branch Morning Supervisor for the one person who works there part time, no mail carriers dispatched from that site. All mail posted in northern Michigan goes to Grand Rapids for sorting, even if it's just going across town, and that's where it's postmarked. Everything else mail-related in Traverse City happens at the Union

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[UnknowingFool]

If you read the summary correctly, the FCC fined T-Mobile for their abuse of the Sprint Lifeline program. The Better Business Bureau (which has no relation to the FCC or the government) has issues with T-Mobile using the term "best" when describing their 5G network. Two different organizations

Honest advertising?

[Immerman]

Honest claims from a phone company? I can only imagine what that might look like. "Now with more bandwidth than a sack of dead rats!"

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[rmdingler]

Indeed. Level of reliability and honesty: on par with cable and internet providers, politicians, used car salesmen, and Toydarian junk dealers.

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[NotEmmanuelGoldstein]

... imagine what that might look like.

"... will get the best 5G network ..." our exorbitant profit-margin permits.

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[c-A-d]

"Still less bandwidth than a mini cooper full of hard drives speeding down the highway."

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[Immerman]

Heck, I don't think anything even remotely approaches that kind of bandwidth, aside from a Classic VW Bug full of microSD cards.

fuck tmobile

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever since the sprint merger they now cut you off when you're only 2 days late to pay the bill and they don't even send you a warning text, then charge you a $20 PLUS TAX reconnect fee per line, counting tablets as a line. I only pay $10/mo for my tablet and had to pay $27 reconnection fee because my bill was 2 days late. T-mobile used to give you 3 warnings by text before cutting you off, now 0. They used to wait until 30 days past due before even threatening to cut you off. Now overnight without warning t

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[bobstreo]

Ever since the sprint merger they now cut you off when you're only 2 days late to pay the bill and they don't even send you a warning text, then charge you a $20 PLUS TAX reconnect fee per line, counting tablets as a line. I only pay $10/mo for my tablet and had to pay $27 reconnection fee because my bill was 2 days late. T-mobile used to give you 3 warnings by text before cutting you off, now 0. They used to wait until 30 days past due before even threatening to cut you off. Now overnight without warning they are greedy ***. Fuck the new change in leadership. I was a satisfied tmobile customer for 25 years now they can go to hell where they belong.

Yeah I finally dumped Tmo back in march, went with spectrum for $14 a month with 1GB data, which since I'm home on WIFI about 99.999% of the time, I don't even use. I was getting the same unlimited phone and text, and 5GB of data a month for $42 more a month with Tmo.

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[DewDude]

Back in 2018 Legere was on his "uncarrier" kick and announced the metro rebranding. Said in addition to a new name...they were going to rewrite the rules of prepaid by giving better service, fewer fees, and more perks.

Then they announced a new fee schedule for metro that was the exact opposite of this. In addition to more fees being added, existing fees went up and fees were now charged for more stuff. Want to switch your phone? It'll cost you $25...and that's not even in the store. If the automated syste

Very cool

[bmimatt]

How about Verizon? They flood the commercials space with promises from 5-10 years in the future.

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[Solandri]

First line from TFA:

The Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division (NAD) told Verizon over the summer to cut it out with the misleading 5G ads, and now it's telling T-Mobile to do the same.

If there's anything to complain about, it's slashdot's fault for not running the story when Verizon was the target, but running it now that T-Mobile is the target.

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[bmimatt]

I wasn't hoping for a coherent response here :)
Both of yours are clearly good points. Thanks.

That was quick

[Admiral Krunch]

Biden is barely even the President yet, and the lies are already starting to stop.

No authority: BBB is a blackmailing org

[mveloso]

BBB has no actual authority to do anything. Really, they're just like yelp: if you want to respond to an "allegation" you need to be a BBB "member."

Editors and reporters fall for this shit all the time, and I'm not sure why.

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[drinkypoo]

I have had good results with BBB literally every time I have used it.

If people abuse it, that's sad, but I've only used it to get what I was promised, and so far it's done that for me.

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[DewDude]

There is a furniture retailer here that is famous for bait and switch within what's legally not bait and switch. They show you this really nice furniture in the show-room; then they deliver some of the cheapest made stuff that is basically broken when you get it. The company has an A+ BBB rating because they pay for it. They don't resolve complaints; they just remove them.

How to Enable USB Debugging on Android

[hitechdroid]

Enabling USB Debugging [hitechdroid.com] is quite easy. USB Debugging is a well-known Android Developer Feature that allows your Phone to Communicate with a Laptop or Pc with help of Commands. By Enabling USB Debugging, You can do things like Install Custom Rom, Install TWRP Recovery, Unlock Bootloader, Backup your Device, Root Your Phone, etc.

fines blah

[AlexHilbertRyan]

they should be charging those responsible for making these lies, like jail time for ceos and upper management.

5g: The 3d TV of the mobile world

[grasshoppa]

Maybe I'm not a power user on my phone, I'll accept that, but I just don't see why 5g is all that exciting. 4g let us stream anything we wanted plenty fast enough, right? 5g is "faster", but is it more reliable? Does it get better range?

The answer, as we know, is "No" to both, so what value does it provide your average user? The only real world example I could see is connection density; I guess it's supposed to handle high density traffic better than 4g? That seems valuable to those often under those c

It is potentially very exciting

[martynhare]

When combined with IPv6 to eliminate NAT, 5G has the potential to enable every street, regardless of location to have very fast access to broadband connectivity while eliminating the need for expensive physical lines. When combined with mesh networking at the cell tower level, one could connect far more directly with nearby local communities, meaning WiFi then becomes just a form of booster box for your LAN. The only missing piece of the puzzle at that point is a constant device+owner to IP mapping service

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[PPH]

very fast access to broadband connectivity while eliminating the need for expensive physical lines

The issue here is that the sorts of things that we do which require fast broadband are the sorts of things we do while remaining stationary. We learned this decades ago when we figured out that dedicating blocks of r.f. spectrum to television (which people use sitting in one place) was stupid. And connecting communications devices to short cords attached to the wall (telephones) was equally as dumb.

The cloud is slowly becoming old hat for content distribution

That's not going away. AWS, Google and others have too much of a financial stake in being the data gatekeepers

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[cusco]

Netflix already caches data as near to end users as is reasonable, that's why AWS has POP sites in most large metropolitan areas. The actual likelihood that your immediate neighbors are watching anything like the same lineup of shows is fairly low. POP site caching works very well because the numbers are large enough.

but all 5G networks are trash

[dicobalt]

5G simply doesn't work without direct line of site, even an umbrella will block it. And for that wonderful functionality you pay a big price premium. It's nothing but marketing garbage to get the Wallstreet hacks and blind consumers to dump money into corporations for products that will never work. The whole mobile industry has become a joke thanks to 5G.

Re: but all 5G networks are trash

[bn-7bc]

Sigh, that is only accurate for mmWave 5G, 5G on the lower bands wil iirc have the same penetration as any other rf transmitted at the same power from the same antenna. Kn we please stop saying thar 5G ( without specifying frequency band) has worse penetration than 4G?

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[cusco]

Consumer phones are not the point of 5G, except for the opportunity to sell new phones. It's oriented to the 20 BILLION IoT devices which will be installe by this time next year, and the next 20 billion which are expected before the end of 2022.

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[tlhIngan]

5G simply doesn't work without direct line of site, even an umbrella will block it. And for that wonderful functionality you pay a big price premium. It's nothing but marketing garbage to get the Wallstreet hacks and blind consumers to dump money into corporations for products that will never work. The whole mobile industry has become a joke thanks to 5G.

You probably mean mmWave 5G, which only works within like 30 feet of the cell site anyhow, - basically they require installation of sites atop every street

Misconstrued Message

[Pammy0516]

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