T-Mobile won't stop claiming it has the fastest network despite pressure from watchdog...

[William Gayde]

The big four cellphone carriers are in a never ending game of cat and mouse over who has the best network. With all of the different claims surrounding speed, reliability, and coverage, it can get confusing as to what is and isn't true in these ads. The National Advertising Division is a telecom watchdog group aimed at resolving conflicts and keeping carriers honest in these situations. They have recently warned T-Mobile not to advertise that they have the country's fastest LTE network, but T-Mobile says they will continue to make the claim and have new data to back it up.

Verizon originally filed a complaint with the NAD since they believed the 3rd party data that T-Mobile used was skewed. According to Verizon, the Ookla and OpenSignal data were more likely to sample T-Mobile unlimited customers and therefore could not be used to backup the claim. The data was captured right after Verizon reintroduced their unlimited plans and they believe this invalidates the findings.

The NAD also recommended that T-Mobile modify the claim that they covered 99.7% of Verizon customers to make it clear that this measurement was by population and not geographic area.

T-Mobile Senior VP of corporate communications Janice Kapner issued a statement saying:

"On the fastest LTE network challenge, NAD ruled that the one month of crowd-sourced data we submitted (when Verizon launched their unlimited plan) could not be used."

"NAD previously recognized third-party crowd-sourced data as a way to look at network performance, so we looked at the latest results, and verified what we already knew! T-Mobile is still the fastest LTE network and we’ll continue to let consumers know that!"

It's unclear where the data is from or how it differs from the Ookla data, but they think it is enough to resume making these advertisement claims.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/71229-t-mobile-wont-stop-claiming-has-fastest-network.html

 

[OcelotRex]

It's telling that Verizon would be fighting these claims with maneuvering from the NAD instead of just showing how fast/capable their network is.

If you have the best just prove it.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

It's telling that Verizon would be fighting these claims with maneuvering from the NAD instead of just showing how fast/capable their network is.

If you have the best just prove it.

They don't have to prove anything. They're catering to the consumer in a cut throat market and all that counts is who has the loudest bark and who offers the best rates.

 

[OcelotRex]

They don't have to prove anything. They're catering to the consumer in a cut throat market and all that counts is who has the loudest bark and who offers the best rates.

I believe the highlighted part to be true thus Verizon's petty maneuvering since they cannot compete on price/value.

 

[MoeJoe]

Every geographical zone is it's own beast. It's been that way for years.
I can say that in my own particular area Tmo has dramatically improved over the past 3 years.
And can hit >20 Mbit LTE speeds in and around town.

It's for the consumer to determine if actual top speeds are available in their particular area.
And certainly reasonable to believe that some Tmo service areas are still in need of a big upgrade.

"Fastest network" is a pretty broad claim ... just as the coverage maps have ALWAYS been.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I believe the highlighted part to be true thus Verizon's petty maneuvering since they cannot compete on price/value.

Data is a commodity and it's still too damned expensive everywhere but Vodafone/Verizon think they're doing us a favour by letting us use theirs at ridiculous prices then pout, sulk and run crying the classroom teacher citing bullying as the reason when things don't go their way. Anybody with half a brain will take the best rates possible even if it means losing a MB or two of speed in the process.

 

[Squid Surprise]

You Americans whining about the monopoly 4 companies have.... In Canada we only have 2.... and they gouge us even worse...

Rogers vs. Bell isn't even really a "fight", as they collude with each other to screw us over

 

[petert]

Is US where customers bend over to big carriers and if you point them out that they are scammed or at least lied about, they are proudly gonna show you "the fine print" which you didn't read - which makes it all right to be ripped off I guess ...

 

[Uncle Al]

SO what does the "T" stand for? I'm guessing it's Truth so if they got Truth Mobile they can keep moving it around until it reaches the platue of "Alternative Facts" ...... hmmmmmmm, why's that guy in the dark suit and sunglasses standing outside my house ...... ??