New bill could force carriers to tell the truth about 4G

4G is barely in its infancy and it has already been through so much. First it was fake, and then some solid lobbying on carriers’ parts convinced the International Telecommunication Union to sing a new tune that would allow telcos to call LTE, WiMAX and even certain 3G technologies “4G” without blatantly lying. Though 4G’s definition is now anything but clear, carrier marketing soon could be — new legislation currently in hands of the U.S. House of Representatives could potentially require U.S. wireless service providers to define guaranteed minimum data speeds that customers can expect of their networks. Since two tin cans and a piece of string can basically be called a 4G network according to the ITU’s loose guidelines, this bill — dubbed the Next Generation Wireless Disclosure Act — would be a big step toward weaving through marketing tomfoolery and letting customers know just how 4G their 4G network really is. While the benefits to subscribers are fairly obvious, whether or not the proposition might become law depends largely on how much lobbying carriers are prepared to do.

[Via Macworld]

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Tags: 4G, 4G speeds, AT&T, LTE, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, verizon wireless, WiMAX

Zach Epstein