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this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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Oh man, this sounds like a repeat of the whole debacle with AT&T and their "5Ge" bullshit. As soon as the whole 5G hype started, AT&T decided to claim that their entire network was now "5Ge" and capable of faster speeds. When in reality the "5Ge" label simply meant that the network in that area was flagged to be upgraded to 5G sometime in the near future, there was zero increase in network bandwidth or performance, just a little "5GE" symbol on your phone. IIRC they were taken to court over it and ordered to stop using the "5Ge" label, but they figured out a way to weasel out of it and never followed thru.
Many years ago, when even smartphones were relatively rare, I learned that AT&T was offering a little USB dongle that would give your computer internet access via their cell phone network for a monthly fee. I thought it was a fantastic idea and I wanted exactly that, so I went in to buy one.
I asked the lady how much data per month was included. She said it was unlimited. I said that it's definitely not. I just want to know what the limit is. We want back and forth a little bit, and after a while I just asked to see the written agreement, dug through it a little bit, and found the part where it said that I was limited to 5 gigabytes of internet per month. I pointed it out to her, reiterating that 5 gigs is fine, I just had wanted to know what the limit was.
She said, "Oh that's what comes with the unlimited plan." She argued that no human being would realistically use 5 gigabytes in a single month, so the plan was unlimited.
I gave up and just bought the thing and left, but it was such a frustrating interaction that it still comes to mind almost 20 years later when someone says "AT&T" and "bullshit" in the same sentence.
You have an unlimited amount of water in that glass, assuming you don't drink it all.
I really wish the government would crack down on this "unlimited" bullshit. How can companies like Verizon have three separate tiers of "Unlimited data?" It's fucking impossible to have three separate limits on a thing that is advertised as 'no limits'
By pwning the three branches of government and, therefore, the regulatory environment.
So confidently incorrect, and so deep into false advertising territory.
Ignorance makes her confident. But one can't be so charitable about the company's fraud.
Reminds me of that guy who repeatedly asked Verizon to confirm their price was X cents per byte, but ultimately was charged X dollars per byte.
Found it: http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/verizon-doesnt-know-dollars-from-cents.html
I’m pretty sure they just decided 4G/LTE = 5G. And now have a 5G+ icon for actual 5G. I noticed that when I moved back to an att MVNO last month after decades away from them.
Also, they deploy a wifi SSID profile called att-passwport that auto connects you to some boingo branded wifi towers in select places (like Home Depot). Can’t be disabled permanently and is pretty fucking annoying. Like “may find alternatives” annoying.
I live a couple hundred yards from a tower and recently returned from a two-week vacation. I had a 4g/LTE icon before I left. Now it says 5G, but my tests show the exact same speeds as before. I think you are correct.
It can depend on the level of service you have with ATT that I have seen. If you are on pre-paid plans, or any MVNO they will cap your speed at like 2-4 Mbps on "5G" and around 5-7 Mbps on "5G+" which seems like actual 5G. They bury it deep in their details. MVNO's say similar as well..
Click "see details" on any of these and it shows in the iframe: https://www.att.com/prepaid/plans/
Heres an example of an MVNO explaining it: https://www.cricketwireless.com/support/data-and-streaming/network-speeds-and-streaming.html
Now, if you get a post paid plan, and only on the highest tier, do you not get limitations on speed (aka QoS).
They are conflating it with "SD Standard-definition streaming" or "4K UHD streaming available", where the latter is basically with no QoS and will get full speed and priority on the towers. All others are capped at the speeds stated above that I have seen.
I found the post paid details digging the other day but their website is a hot mess (probably dark patterned intentionally that way).
TL:DR - I am not a fan of the way any of these companies advertise service.
See also: AT&T marketing HSPA+ as 4G LTE.