Sprint Sues AT&T, Proving ?5G? Is Still Meaningless

"It harms consumers by holding out AT&T’s services as more technologically advanced than Sprint’s and enticing consumers to switch wireless service providers (or remain AT&T subscribers) under false pretenses," the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday and spotted by Engadget, says.Sprint declined to comment on whether it would add other defendants to the suit, such as Samsung, which also displays the 5GE branding on some phones on AT&T networks, or Apple.Someday real 5G networks could enable mobile speeds of around 10 gigabits per second—about 10 times faster than the standard Google Fiber connection. They're umbrella terms for a number of different technologies and standards used to build successive "generations" of wireless networks.The four largest US mobile carriers have largely settled on the LTE, or "Long Term Evolution" standard for their 4G networks. In a recent blog post, T-Mobile CEO John Legere called AT&T’s 5GE “BS,” and said AT&T is “lying to their customers.” He said AT&T’s tactics differ from what T-Mobile did with HSPA+ because the ITU hasn't signed off on calling LTE Evolution "5G." The ITU didn't respond to a request for comment.Not all of the 5G specifications have been finalized by the 3GPP, the standards body responsible for 5G.