AT&T will put a fake 5G logo on its 4G LTE phones

AT&T will have a fake 5G logo on its 4G LTE phones

AT&T customers will get to see a 5G logo appear in the corner of their smartphone next year. The reason being that AT&T is going to start its most advanced 4G LTE tech is 5G.

According to FierceWireless, AT&T will display an icon reading “5G E” on newer phones connected to LTE in markets where the carrier has deployed a handful of speed boosting — but still definitively 4G — technologies. The “E,” displayed smaller than the rest of the logo, refers to “5G Evolution,” the carrier’s term for networks that aren’t quite 5G but are still faster than traditional LTE.

The company rolled out a speed-boosting 3G tech called HSPA+, then got all of its phone partners — even Apple! — to show a “4G” logo on that kind of connection.

It’s an intentionally confusing and borderline deceptive move designed to win the coming advertising wars around 5G. By “upgrading” a bunch of customers’ phones to “5G” , AT&T will have a multitude of people using a “5G” network months

E in the 5G E

Technically, the “E” in the “5G E” icon will offer a degree of clarification. It is also believed that AT&T was “duping customers into thinking they’re getting something they’re not.” The “E” is easy to miss, too, judging by a mockup AT&T sent out.

The “5G E” logo would initially come to “a handful of devices, with more devices showing the indicator in spring 2019.” It wasn’t stated how many devices or which devices would show the icon. F AT&T’s 5G Evolution network available in over 400 markets by the end of 2018. Given that real 5G will be rare and limited for the next year or more, this little branding change could lead to a great deal of misunderstanding around the state of the next-generation wireless technology.