Verizon’s 5G network is tiny—Verizon ads “falsely implied” it’s nationwide

Enlarge / A Verizon booth at Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles in September 2018. (credit: Verizon)

Verizon has reluctantly agreed to stop running ads that falsely imply the carrier's 5G mobile service is available throughout the United States.

Verizon 5G makes heavy use of millimeter-wave signals that don't travel far and are easily blocked by walls and other obstacles. On top of that, 5G is generally only available in small areas instead of throughout entire cities. Yet Verizon has been running a commercial that "falsely implies that Verizon 5G service is broadly available nationally," the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the BBB National Programs organization said yesterday. The NAD also recommended that Verizon discontinue two TV commercials and refrain from making the same claims in future ads.

The NAD runs the advertising industry's self-regulatory system that companies use to challenge each other's advertising claims. The NAD's critique of Verizon's 5G ads was unusually pointed. The group said it "recommended that Verizon discontinue claims which communicate that its 5G service is widely available in cities across the country, and that its service is broadly and readily accessible in cities where it has been launched."

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments