so when will the lawsuits start over '4G'

[ElFenix]

sprint's wimax network is not 4G, but at least should be easily upgradeable (wimax advanced has been preliminarily accepted as 4G, so wimax is kinda pre-4G)

tmobile's network is not at all 4G and is not based on a technology that can be readily upgraded to 4G, as it's still 3GSM (UMTS).

both are falsely advertising. and i guarantee you when verizon rolls out LTE they're going to call it 4G, even though it's also not 4G (it's also pre-4G).


i blame at&t for this, they figured out that advertising their network as 3G (and only the UMTS part of it, EDGE is 3G even though at&t ignored that, i guess they wanted to slap at tmo or something) would get them more customers. and i guess it worked. a lot of people think at&t was first in the door with 3G, even though they were behind verizon and sprint, iirc.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I guess anyone could sue as soon as they find a lawyer willing to do it but what would the damages be? I guess that's the sticking point on an actual successful lawsuit.

 

[s44]

EDGE is 3G

This proves that the standards people are crazy and useless from the consumer POV, nothing else.

 

[Bateluer]

xG terms have been reduced to purely marketing terms. At best, you could use them to describe the technical generations of a carriers network.

I think AT&T's a little sore that they're going to be the last kid on the block with any kind of faster network technology.

 

[Slick5150]

You'd have no law to file a suit under. There is no legal definition of 4G. That board can 'certify' whatever they want but it has no standing. The carriers would all argue that this is their 4th generation data hardware, and other than T-Mobile, they'd be right.

But considering 4G is simply being used as a marketing term, even T-Mobile is not at any legal risk. PR risk? maybe

 

[Dulanic]

To the average consumer does it matter? Honestly.... I mean all the normal consumer knows is that it is a lot faster. I don't know about Tmobile, but I know using Sprint Wimax it is insanely fast and to anyone using it, it is a lot faster than any 3G network.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I don't care if they call it dogpoop on a stick, as long as they give me faster data.

 

[Dulanic]

I don't care if they call it dogpoop on a stick, as long as they give me faster data.

LOL agree, tho I do have to question it on Tmobile.... their "4G" is about as fast as Sprint 3G. Sprint Wimax blows it out of the water. Tho I do have to say I found the Tmobile commercial making fun of AT&T funny.

 

[Anubis]

I don't care if they call it dogpoop on a stick, as long as they give me faster data.

i agree with this
who the fuck cares what its called, seriously it does not matter

 

[Cuda1447]

LOL agree, tho I do have to question it on Tmobile.... their "4G" is about as fast as Sprint 3G. Sprint Wimax blows it out of the water. Tho I do have to say I found the Tmobile commercial making fun of AT&T funny.

Dude, Sprints HSPA+ is much faster than the Sprint Wimax. Where does this misinformation come from? *shakes head*

 

[gorcorps]

AFAIC 4G is nothing but a buzzword with no really firm definition. There's no way a lawsuit would stick.

 

[Dulanic]

Dude, Sprints HSPA+ is much faster than the Sprint Wimax. Where does this misinformation come from? *shakes head*

Was based off posts I had seen of some Tmobile people complaining about 500kbps speeds. I have access to 4G and get 3-5mbps speeds. After searching some more depending on location they have the capability of similar speeds. Where does you misinformation of "much faster" come from? This testing in philly shows very similar speeds now that I went out and looked for more info.

http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=376&p=2707

 

[tokie]

T-Mobile's 4G advertising is utter stupidity.

Here in Canada, Rogers, Bell & Telus all offer 21mbps HSPA+ networks. Telus in particular advertises it as a 3G+ network, which I guess it technically is. I was down in the US this weekend and saw T-Mobile heavily advertising their '4G' network which is the exact same 21mbps HSPA+ technology that Rogers, Bell and Telus use. I just don't understand how they aren't having their pants sued off.

 

[gsaldivar]

All I care about is price and performance.

Not some stupid brand, or logo, or trademark, or marketing slogan...

They can call it 4G, or 5X, or 12J for all I care.

I want every one of my wireless dollars to go towards the best service money can buy -- not a bunch of ridiculous lawsuits over which brand "legally" qualifies for the hot new marketing logo....

 

[vshah]

LOL agree, tho I do have to question it on Tmobile.... their "4G" is about as fast as Sprint 3G. Sprint Wimax blows it out of the water. Tho I do have to say I found the Tmobile commercial making fun of AT&T funny.

really depends on where you are. HSPA+ can be insanely fast. but combined with tmobile's somewhat lacking coverage in some places...you can end up with "3G" speeds even hspa+

http://goo.gl/P0wk3

 

[ponyo]

LOL agree, tho I do have to question it on Tmobile.... their "4G" is about as fast as Sprint 3G. Sprint Wimax blows it out of the water. Tho I do have to say I found the Tmobile commercial making fun of AT&T funny.

HSPA+ and Wimax download speeds are similar. But HSPA+ has about twice upload speed and half the latency. So HSPA+ is faster. Both have terrible coverage at the moment though.

 

[Dulanic]

HSPA+ and Wimax download speeds are similar. But HSPA+ has about twice upload speed and half the latency. So HSPA+ is faster. Both have terrible coverage at the moment though.

It seemed like the opposite to me? From the link above I see upload speeds of .5-1.5mbps where as on Wimax I tend to get 2-3mbps. Not that I think it matters overall they are all crazy fast for a phone lol. Id go out and say both work rather well at this point. No trying to argue overall it doesnt matter to me, they are both fast for a phone.

Oh and yes both of their coverages suck. I wonder if HSPA+ has better building penetration, that is my biggest issue with Wimax.

 

[zerocool84]

Dude, Sprints HSPA+ is much faster than the Sprint Wimax. Where does this misinformation come from? *shakes head*

Misinformation spread by people like you.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

You'd have no law to file a suit under. There is no legal definition of 4G. That board can 'certify' whatever they want but it has no standing. The carriers would all argue that this is their 4th generation data hardware, and other than T-Mobile, they'd be right.

But considering 4G is simply being used as a marketing term, even T-Mobile is not at any legal risk. PR risk? maybe

This.

4G is not defined by law to be "only x, y, and z" which would be about the only way you could sue (under false advertisement type laws). Also, 4G as it is currently used, generally, is talking about the global generation of the networks. All of them are moving into the next generation of wireless data, which in this case is the 4th generation. While Sprint/Verizon/etc might not be "truly 4G", they are the 4th gen tech for their networks.

Good luck finding a lawyer who would be willing to file any kind of suit for this (unless you had the money to just throw at them).

AFAIC 4G is nothing but a buzzword with no really firm definition. There's no way a lawsuit would stick.

Exactly.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

T-Mobile's 4G advertising is utter stupidity.

Here in Canada, Rogers, Bell & Telus all offer 21mbps HSPA+ networks. Telus in particular advertises it as a 3G+ network, which I guess it technically is. I was down in the US this weekend and saw T-Mobile heavily advertising their '4G' network which is the exact same 21mbps HSPA+ technology that Rogers, Bell and Telus use. I just don't understand how they aren't having their pants sued off.

This is what I laugh at. Americans continue to cry about 4G but it's really Sprint and Verizon that need to go 4G whereas the GSM carriers have no problem upgrading their 3G networks to accomodate 21mbps 42mbps or even 84mbps.

Of course now it's just a marketing scheme. Like the whole "rated CPU speed" crap.

 

[s44]

Americans continue to cry about 4G but it's really Sprint and Verizon that need to go 4G whereas the GSM carriers have no problem upgrading their 3G networks to accomodate 21mbps 42mbps or even 84mbps.

And yet AT&T isn't doing so. Hell, they even intentionally disabled* HSUPA on their top Android device so it wouldn't show up their precious iPhone.

*Yes, custom firmware enables it.

 

[Deeko]

LOL agree, tho I do have to question it on Tmobile.... their "4G" is about as fast as Sprint 3G. Sprint Wimax blows it out of the water. Tho I do have to say I found the Tmobile commercial making fun of AT&T funny.

My experience with the HD2 (not even a full HSPA+ device) and the Epic 4G showed that the HD2 had consistently faster speeds. Of course this can change from person to person - but yea, Sprint's WiMax isn't exactly a whole different category of speeds or anything.

 

[Deeko]

T-Mobile's 4G advertising is utter stupidity.

Here in Canada, Rogers, Bell & Telus all offer 21mbps HSPA+ networks. Telus in particular advertises it as a 3G+ network, which I guess it technically is. I was down in the US this weekend and saw T-Mobile heavily advertising their '4G' network which is the exact same 21mbps HSPA+ technology that Rogers, Bell and Telus use. I just don't understand how they aren't having their pants sued off.

1) Its not more stupid than Sprint using 4G on everything. The execs at T-Mobile said "Hey! Our network is as fast or faster than theirs, and its more widespread, and it penetrates buildings faster! Why should we let them bogard the hype of '4G'?" So they jumped on the bandwagon. Besides, compare EV-DO Rev.0 and HSPA+. They're barely comperable, despite both being "3G"

2) As was mentioned before, they aren't being sued because "4G" doesn't exist. Its a marketing buzzword. Just because some consortium declares what they think 4G tech entails doesn't mean everyone has to agree with them.