Twitter might be the one platform that moves as fast as the telecom industry. RCR Wireless News surveys the Twitterverse and snags the telecom tweets of the week.
If there’s one thing the telecom industry loves, it’s marketing hype. If there’s one thing Twitter loves, it’s punching holes in marketing hype. So it was no surprise this week that AT&T’s “5G Evolution” drew some boos for being … not actually 5G. Predictable eye-rolls came from T-Mobile US and Sprint, but they weren’t the only ones calling AT&T out for being the first to attempt to market pre-5G technology as 5G.
Cmon @ATT did you guys really have to call #GigabitLTE by #5GEvolution? Its in no way #5G. https://t.co/gXLcjOM7i2
— Anshel Sag (@anshelsag) April 26, 2017
AT&T descends into marketing nonsense, announcing meaningless "5G Evolution" rollout https://t.co/PeTV0a0SBn pic.twitter.com/spjdeNH7yu
— Neowin (@NeowinFeed) April 25, 2017
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure and T-Mobile US CTO Neville Ray had some fun with this.
COME ON @ATT THIS ACTUALLY BEATS FAKE NEWS. CALLING LTE 5G.AT&T announces it will build a fake 5G network https://t.co/Ci5QiwWvyy via @Verge
— Marcelo Claure (@marceloclaure) April 26, 2017
So I’m very, very proud to announce @TMobile "7G Eventual" – very exciting, already existing technology.
— Neville (@NevilleRay) April 26, 2017
Meanwhile, T-Mo CEO John Legere was busy trolling AT&T over postpaid customer losses by asking his followers to guess the number of #ATTLostMarbles, which corresponded to postpaid phone-line losses over the past 10 quarters.
How many marbles are in this dump truck? Person who comes closest with #ATTLostMarbles is getting a prize! Winner announced at 9:30pm ET! pic.twitter.com/8IjyQ9yU34
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 25, 2017
Hint hint: each marble represents a postpaid customer who has left @ATT or has been “removed” from their counts. #ATTLostMarbles
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 25, 2017
Guesses from Twitter users ranged from less than half a million to 15 million, but ultimately …
Nailed it, @prking07! Sum of @ATT's 10Q's of postpaid 📱losses = 3.9M! #ATTLostMarbles prize is on the way! @TMobileHelp will get ur info. https://t.co/Rpn8KfBoaU
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 26, 2017
Beyond debating real vs. fake 5G, Twitter would really, really like to know what’s going on with the new iPhone 8. Wireless charging? Vertical dual cameras?
https://twitter.com/iPhone8News/status/857960628366880768
#iPhone8 leaks reveal dual-camera, no rear Touch ID: More details here https://t.co/z6BGrJltHa @khalidanzar pic.twitter.com/PaM9U8XQzq
— Business Standard (@bsindia) April 28, 2017
Another iPhone 8 leak hints at wireless charging https://t.co/F95QD7AyKL #techcrunch #technology #apple #iphone8 #leak #wirelesscharge
— Allenross356 (@allenross356) April 28, 2017
Apple #iPhone8: New concept video shows improved features, vertical dual camera and more https://t.co/G0HgOnByrd pic.twitter.com/1Kg61ZwUPU
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) April 27, 2017
As usual, we wait with bated breath for the release and the inevitable Galaxy S8 versus iPhone 8 battle. But the loss of device subsidies appears to be having a substantial impact on device upgrade cycles — in its results this week, AT&T said that it saw its lowest-ever rate of device upgrades and actually sold a million devices less than it did at the same time last year. Customers are hanging onto their devices longer, although early adopters and Apple fans will surely provide some momentum for the new iPhone.
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