Magenta must really be getting under Big Red's skin or Q3 numbers were not as good as hoped for.
By Verizon's own admission they must be "deprioritizing," a whole lot of customers if it's skewing crowd sourced speed analytics that much.
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THE GOAT IN 5G
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...aim/ar-AAsCxyb
The T-Mobile ads in print, on the radio and on television, relied on conclusions from crowd-sourced networking testing studies by Ookla and Open Signal that found the carrier’s customers reported the top average speeds.
But competitor Verizon, which has been tabbed fastest by controlled network testing firms like Rootmetrics, complained to the National Advertising Division, the industry’s self-policing body which is overseen by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
After looking into the complaint, the unit upheld some of T-Mobile’s ad claims, including that the carrier covers 99% of the people that Verizon covers.
But the speed claim was frowned upon. The results of the Ookla tests, which are calculated from millions of people using its Speedtest apps on their phone, could have been influenced by Verizon purposely slowing down data speeds for some customers who used excessive amounts of data in one month, a tactic called depriortization, the division said. Verizon added the policy with its popular unlimited data plans in February.
“Following its review, NAD concluded that the Ookla and Open Signal Speed test results in the month after Verizon introduced unlimited data plans might have had a bias in favor of T-Mobile and as a result did not support a comparative claim that T-Mobile has the fastest 4G LTE network,” the division said in a statement. “NAD recommended T-Mobile discontinue claims that it has the fastest 4G LTE network.”
“The Internet wasn’t meant to be metered in bits and bytes, so it’s insane that wireless companies are still making you buy it this way. The rate plan is dead — it’s a fossil from a time when wireless was metered by every call or text.” John Legere 1/5/2017
THE GOAT IN 5G
Magenta must really be getting under Big Red's skin or Q3 numbers were not as good as hoped for.
By Verizon's own admission they must be "deprioritizing," a whole lot of customers if it's skewing crowd sourced speed analytics that much.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
I'm not a T-Mobile fanboy, but I think this was kind of a silly complaint from Verizon. Also, T-Mobile has deprioritization as well. So who's to say that some of the speedtests on T-Mobile's network weren't influenced in the same way.
Now, if we'd like to discuss not using speedtests from uncontrolled consumer testing altogether, that's a discussion that would be good to have. I think controlled 3rd party tests are the way to go.
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So what's their argument---that their network is really faster, but because they purposely slowed down customers data speeds the tests where slower. What a joke!Originally Posted by @TheRealDanny
In that case, if they want to win the tests, then raise their level of deprioritzation like T-Mobile just did. In the meantime, T-Mobile should just continue to report the true results of the tests in their advertising. I don't think the NAD can really do much if they ignore what they say.
Post Machine
I can recall a time when Verizon wouldn't have bother to acknowledge that T-Mobile even exists.
Donald Newcomb
Guest
I've had times where Verizon and att were faster but on a consistent basis T-Mobile has been the fastest. Def seems like a weak argument by Verizon
Banned
NAD is usually used as a cheap alternative to litigation, which if TMobile ignored their findings is likely where it would go. I'm not sure TMobile would want to finance a litigation case when all they would need to do is change their wording some on their advertisements. Verizon's argument was strong enough that it convinced NAD to agree with some of their complaints so NAD's conclusion would have a high chance of holding up in a court case also. It would probably be easier and cheaper for them to just tweak their claims a little bit and it would likely be enough to please them.
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From the facts presented, I think T-Mobile would eagerly finance litigation on this. Imagine the publicity of Verizon trying to hide the fact that their tests are slower than T-Mobile's.
I don't know what wording change you would suggest. T-Mobile is now saying they have the fastest LTE network. So would you suggest they change it to "not the fastest LTE network"?
Banned
I'm not sure they would want to take it to court. I would feel the court would likely follow NAD's conclusion on it. Verizon's argument was strong enough for NAD to agree with them on some aspects. As far as changing the wording there are likely a few alternatives to use. I would assume saying fastest lte network in more places according to such and such would be acceptable, rather than saying fastest network in America then putting a tiny mark next to it and having all the details in fine print. T-Mobiles advertising team is high paid, I'm sure they can come up with something suitable. As far as the actual complaint I agree it's petty, but it's no more or less petty than all the other complaints these companies file against each other. Att complained about Verizon map ads years ago, TMobile constantly complains about Verizon's root metrics scores, if I recall correctly att got in trouble years ago with their best network ads and had to change it to more bars in more places, it's just what companies in the same field do, they complain about each other's deceptive advertising. All the carriers do it. When there is millions of dollars at stake you try to get any advantage you can over your competition and try to hinder them any way possible. It's really nothing new, been going on forever.
THE GOAT IN 5G
QFT. They are definitely feeling the heat and pressure with the potential spectrum powerhouse of a combined T-Mobile Sprint looming in the foreseeable future.
When all else fails complain to NAD.
I've got more phones than fingers
Deprioritizing means "Verizon making its network slow on purpose", so it seems like a no-brainer to include this in speed tests.
I have a blue tooth
Haha, yeah, and last year the Sprint CEO called T-Mobile ghetto service. Hey Sprint. Who's ghetto service now?
Post Machine
Well, technically it was a customer in a focus group with Claure but they then made it into an add, which was quickly pulled back.
THE GOAT IN 5G
http://fortune.com/2017/09/29/t-mobi...network-claim/
T-Mobile says it won't stop claiming it has the "fastest" 4G LTE wireless network in its advertising, even after the ad industry's self-regulatory unit found the claim wasn't supported. The carrier at first agreed to go along with the recommendation, but then said it found additional, more recent data to back the boast.
The T-Mobile ads in print, on the radio and on television, relied on conclusions from crowd-sourced networking testing studies by Ookla and Open Signal that found the carrier's customers reported the top average speeds. But competitor Verizon, which has been tabbed fastest by controlled network testing firms like Rootmetrics, complained to the National Advertising Division, the industry's self-policing body which is overseen by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
But on Friday T-Mobile said it had additional, more recent testing data now and would not drop the claim. "NAD ruled that the one month of crowd-sourced data we submitted (when Verizon launched their unlimited plan) could not be used,” T-Mobile said in a statement. “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!”
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Fortunately Legere has decided not to back down and not to change the advertising. Let Verizon take it to court and T-Mobile can embarrass them there.
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