Australian Regulators Targeting Apple Over '4G' Marketing Claims on New iPad
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australian regulators are taking action to address "misleading" marketing claims regarding the new iPad, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announcing that it will pursue injunctions, fines and other remedies in its case. The issue stems from Apple's use of "4G" in its marketing terms for the cellular-capable models of the new iPad, while 4G LTE compatibility is actually only offered in the United States and Canada due to differences in the frequency bands used for LTE in different countries.
“The ACCC alleges that Apple's recent promotion of the new "iPad with WiFi + 4G" is misleading because it represents to Australian consumers that the product "iPad with WiFi + 4G" can, with a SIM card, connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia, when this is not the case.
The competition regulator said it was seeking injunctions, penalties, corrective advertising and refunds to consumers who were misled.
Apple has added fine print in several places on its website to clarify that LTE connectivity is not available in most countries, but the ACCC clearly feels that this step is insufficient and that the company should cease using the "4G" term in association with the iPad in countries where the device is incompatible with LTE networks.
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Top Rated Comments
Its not that most carriers in the UK/Australia/New Zealand/Wherever dont offer 4G (although most dont) its that WHEN they do the new ipad still wont work on them.
The frequencies are different and it will never be physically capable of using 4G services in those countries. Ever.
So yes, 4G should be removed in those countries where it will simply never work.
Put it this way - if an Australian carrier DID start offering 4G services and someone bought a 4G ipad there, would they not be within their rights to complain when it didnt work?
"Oh we didnt mean YOUR 4G"
No.
The iPad cannot connect to 4G LTE networks in Australia due to incompatible frequencies.
It can connect to HSPA+ and DC-HSPA but these are not 4G.
the USA doesnt have 4G either
Verizon and AT&T just rebranded their "3G" networks as "4G"
they claim speeds of 20mb up and down
however proper 4G is 100mb mobile and 1gbps stationary up/down
They're not being sued.
AT&T and t-mobile rebranded their 3.5G to 4G. LTE is an actual 4G technology capable of the "standard" speeds but in its current implementation it is slower. Eventually it will grow to "true 4G" speeds. But when that happens they will probably brand it as 5th generation :D