T-Mobile in hot water over “flawed” campaign against AT&T

We have seen carriers going back and forth in advertisements over the years, however it looks like one of those carriers has recently come under fire from the National Advertising Division (NAD). In this instance we are looking at what T-Mobile has been saying about AT&T. Perhaps key here though, while T-Mobile has been asked to stop using certain terms, they are not necessarily being told they have to make any changes.

The issues here seem to circulate around network claims. It seems that National Advertising Division has issues with T-Mobile claiming they have 50 percent more bandwidth than AT&T. For this T-Mobile used the HSPA networks, but seem to have ignored AT&T’s LTE network. As to what NAD had to say here — that the analysis from T-Mobile was “flawed.”

More specifically, they have suggested that there was not enough evidence to prove that AT&T’s LTE and HSPA combined networks were slower or more congested. Other points against T-Mobile came as a request to stop using terms such as “most advanced technology” and “faster 4G service.” NAD also suggested that T-Mobile stop using coverage maps in regards to their 4G and 4G LTE coverage claims.

Even more here involved the use of “call quality” claims. Here T-Mobile was said to be “overly broad” and as a suggestion, NAD said T-Mobile should use the term “audio or voice quality.” That all being said, T-Mobile has responded with statements calling these claims “very minor.”

Furthermore, T-Mobile has said they would consider these recommendations and that these findings were actually a “validation” of their “marketing approach.” More to the point of the considering these recommendations, T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert has said that “today’s NAD findings won’t result in any substantial changes to our marketing claims.”

VIA: CNET