AT&T's 4G is Not Real 4G

Yesterday AT&T had an update “courtesy of Apple’s new iOS 5.1 software update”.  With this update comes a surprise for iPhone 4S users. Their phones will display their speed as 4G. However, according to “For Apple iPhone 4S Owners, 4G the Easy Way” by Andrew Dowell of WSJ.com, it’s not an upgrade in speed just a change in name. This “4G” is actually 3G under a new name.

According to article the update actually states that this is an “Updated AT&T network indicator”. The article also states this as legal: ”the International Telecommunications Union, a standards body, a standards body, said techologies like AT&T’s HSPA-plus could be labeled 4G.”

After AT&T’s consumer battle over reducing customer’s speed without reasonable notification, you would think AT&T would stray from more bad press. Apparently, they believe they’re invincible and can’t suffer from bad publicity. Regardless that it is legally allowed to state that their speed is 4G, AT&T is basically changing the name of a product to act as if they have benefited their customers. They are lying to current and prospective customers. Maybe when AT&T had the iPhone exclusively this would make sense. However, AT&T no longer has exclusivity over the iPhone or iPads and their recent actions with customers is going to be perceived as if they could care less to lose subscribers once contracts are up. How exactly is this a winning move against their competitors?

When I see a 4G indicator on my phone, I believe I have 4G (by the way, I am not an AT&T customer). My phone indicates it and so does my contract. AT&T has proven they don’t heed their contracts and now their phones are lying to you. Maybe someone in marketing/ public relations needs to sit down with executives of the company to teach common sense and plan for exodus when contracts are up.