• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

AT&T Customers: Don't be fooled by the 5G-E logo that shows up on AT&T phones through software updates now rolling out, AT&T does NOT have 5G yet.

Deleted member 3812

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,821
Ars Technica is reporting that AT&T customers will start seeing this fake 5G icon in their status bars as AT&T is rolling out right now a software update that adds this 5G-E icon:

chrome_2019-01-07_11-52-06.png


Ars is reporting that AT&T's "5G" network is in fact only an 4G LTE-Advanced network: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...starts-issues-icon-changing-software-updates/

There's a new cellular network technology on the way, and the whole industry is banding together to upgrade from 4G LTE to 5G mmWave. The 5G upgrade will require new modem technologies, lots of new chips to pack into devices, and the need for new and more plentiful cell towers. That all sounds like a lot of hard work, so wouldn't it be easier to just update everyone's 4G icon to "5G" and call it a day?

Welcome to AT&T's 5G plan, where perception and marketing is all that matters. AT&T is just going to start calling 4G LTE "5G E." The company started rolling out a software update to several Android phones over the weekend, and what was called "4G" yesterday is now called "5G" today. Through the power of marketing, AT&T now has "5G" in over 400 markets!

AT&T's side of the story is that "5G E"—the "E" is for "Evolution"—is now going to be applied to areas of its network that have LTE-Advanced technologies like carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM. Real 5G—that is, mmWave technology—will get the branding "5G+." So far, AT&T doesn't have smartphone hardware that supports mmWave, but it did announce a 5G mmWave hotspot.

Calling these LTE technologies "5G" is ridiculous and seems designed only to mislead consumers into thinking AT&T's network is somehow better than the competition's. It's not.

Select android phones from Samsung and LG are the first to get AT&T's Fake 5G status icon, with more phones getting the icon in the spring. You can really see what AT&T's priorities are in this LG V30 update bulletin, which lists "5G Evolution indicator support added" as the only item in the "What's new" section, while the OS security patch remains two months out of date.

The whole 5G rollout is turning into a huge mess, and AT&T isn't helping matters.

For now, the real battle is to see who can mislead, manipulate, and confuse consumers the most, and this generation AT&T is crushing the competition.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
zerocypher

zerocypher

Member
Oct 27, 2017
575
More like 5G E where the E is for Edge aka handicapped 5G. How do they get away with this false marketing?
 
Metallix87

Metallix87

User Requested Self-Ban
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
10,533
This is actually somewhat old news. I heard about it last month, with AT&T being absolutely desperate to be first to market with 5G. Pretty scummy, but people will be all over it.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 3812

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,821
There's one AT&T phone that received only this fake 5G icon and the security patch is two months out of date:

Select android phones from Samsung and LG are the first to get AT&T's Fake 5G status icon, with more phones getting the icon in the spring. You can really see what AT&T's priorities are in this LG V30 update bulletin, which lists "5G Evolution indicator support added" as the only item in the "What's new" section, while the OS security patch remains two months out of date.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Arthands

Arthands

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
8,039
I have no idea why people and the laws keep letting AT&T and Google get away with blatant lies like this
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 3812

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,821
TechCrunch is outright stating that AT&T is "lying" about having 5G: https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/07/att-is-lying-to-customers-with-5g-marketing/

AT&T is lying to customers with 5G marketing

After a recent update some AT&T phones now have a 5G E icon. This icon replaces the one indicated the phone is running on a 4G network. But here's the thing: The phone is still on a 4G network. AT&T has played these games before, too.

This nonsense is a marketing ploy by AT&T. The so-called 5G E (5G Evolution) network is just a beefed-up 4G network and not true 5G, which is still far from being ready for general consumption. AT&T used the same deceptive tactics before launching its LTE network.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 3812

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,821
TheDestructiveSquirrel said:
Didn't carriers do stuff like this when LTE was new?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

According to The Next Web, AT&T tried to claim they had 4G when in fact at the time, their network had absolutely NO 4G capabilities: https://thenextweb.com/tech/2019/01...like-5g-is-already-here-and-misleading-users/

In 2010, the network claimed to be "America's largest 4G network" while not having any 4G capabilities. 5G is the current buzzword in the industry and a lot of customers are eagerly waiting for its rollout, but this is surely not a way to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
RetroGiant

RetroGiant

Member
Oct 25, 2017
592
In my area, Oklahoma, we have att LTE, but I guarantee it's just a shitty 3g/4g connection. So slow. This doesn't surprise me.
 

Deleted member 8257

Oct 26, 2017
24,586
This is so hilariously bad. There is no phone out there that can support 5g.
 
Alec

Alec

Hero of Bowerstone
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,717
Louisville, KY
I flashed the Android Pie beta to my AT&T Galaxy S8+ last month and it pulled the 5GE icon. Pretty silly.
 
Window

Window

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,282
This is definitely bad practice and misleading. LTE-A features have been around for a long time to be marketing them as a beta for 5G.

To be a pedant though, ATT has launched 5G in very limited areas. And 5G does not have to be over mmWave spectrum. It can use LTE/3G or other low frequency bands as well.
 
Broken Hope

Broken Hope

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,316
Only in America they seem to pull this bullshit, least in the UK we just have 3G and then 4G which is LTE.
 

LCGeek

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,857
Someone should mention the same about the end of the their fiber network still being dsl based when it gets to customers,

This isn't a first for ATT.
 
WaffleTaco

WaffleTaco

Community Resettler
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,908
5G means nothing to people living in urban areas anyway, y'alls already have fast enough internet.

Focus on your rural customers AT&T.
 
Bengraven

Bengraven

Member
Oct 26, 2017
26,764
Florida
Metallix87 said:
It's not a beta. They're trying to rebrand LTE so as to market themselves as first to market with 5G.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

No they're not. It's most definitely a faster service and using different band with the LTE is. Evolution is just a test band with, kind of a middleman. It's the 32X.

Full disclosure: I work for AT&T and have seen the documentation.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,985
It's bull shit and sadly par for the course. It's not illegal because all of these phrases are buzz words. Sure, there's a technical specification behind the buzz word somewhere, but the names are just industry trade names not any legal specification. It's like HD, True HD, 4K, UHD ... etc. There's enough wiggleroom in the technical specification that they can slap a label on anything and try to piggyback on a buzz word.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.