The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs recommended that T-Mobile US, Inc. discontinue all claims that it has the most reliable 5G network according to the third-party testing company, umlaut. T-Mobile will appeal NAD’s decision. The express and implied claims, which appeared in two television commercials and internet advertising, were challenged by AT&T Services, Inc.
“Disappointed with and will appeal NAD’s decision.”
T-Mobile US.
In its advertiser statement, T-Mobile stated that it “is disappointed with and will appeal NAD’s decision.” Further, the advertiser referenced umlaut’s determination that “T-Mobile’s 5G network is the most reliable 5G network in the United States” and stated that “like other similarly situated advertisers, T-Mobile should be able to advertise this independent award. Because T-Mobile strongly disagrees with NAD’s recommendation that it not do so, it will appeal NAD’s decision.”
umlaut audit report
The results of an audit report conducted by umlaut were used by T-Mobile in support of its superior 5G network reliability claim. The umlaut report uses crowdsourced data collected from mobile phones by software that operates in the background of apps downloaded from the Google Play app store.
NAD noted that umlaut’s scoring for 5G network reliability tested the 5G Coverage Reach – the ability of the phone to find 5G coverage; 5G Connection Share – an evaluation of how many user’s data speed samples involved a 5G connection; and download speed – an evaluation of how many download samples are good for supporting popular services like basic internet, HD video, and UHD video.
5G as a supplement to 4G
T-Mobile argued that many consumers toggle between 4G and 5G and umlaut’s testing methodology represents how many consumers currently use 5G as a supplement to 4G, NAD determined that non-5G data cannot be used to support a claim about a 5G network.
NAD noted that a claim about reliability reasonably conveys the message that consumers can use the network and stay connected for their intended purpose or to complete their task. NAD noted that umlaut testing measures two coverage metrics and one speed metric. While NAD agreed that speed and coverage are important to consider when talking about 5G network reliability, speed and coverage alone cannot support a reliability claim.
NAD has found that umlaut’s methodology for testing the reliability of 5G networks was not a good fit for T-Mobile’s “most reliable” 5G network claim because the data used for analysis was conducted on both 5G networks and non-5G networks and therefore the metrics used did not accurately measure reliability. NAD has therefore recommended that T-Mobile discontinue any and all express and implied claims that T-Mobile is the “most reliable 5G network” according to umlaut.
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