AT&T has taken its complaints about T-Mobile’s “Easy Switch” tool to court.
The price comparison tool within T-Mobile’s T-Life app uses AT&T’s password-protected software without permission, AT&T told a Texas federal judge on November 30. AT&T is asking for a temporary restraining order.
AT&T is accusing T-Mobile of unauthorized scraping of AT&T customer data and says T-Mobile “violates several prohibitions in AT&T’s publicly available Terms of Use.” It sent a cease-and-desist order to T-Mobile on November 26, but T-Mobile has refused to comply.
AT&T put security measures in place to block T-Mobile’s tool, but T-Mobile has twice hacked through those security measures, according to the AT&T complaint.
Shortly after the AT&T complaint was filed, T-Mobile filed paperwork with the same court saying the AT&T filing fundamentally mischaracterizes its technology. The information was first publicized in an article by Dorothy Atkins at Law360.com.
T-Mobile plans to file its formal opposition by December 8 and has planned an in-person hearing on December 16. It says AT&T is trying to use the courts to stifle consumer choice, and that no emergency necessitates a temporary restraining order. The “Easy Switch” tool simply lets AT&T customers access their own data, T-Mobile claims.
Verizon hasn’t joined the legal fight, but criticized T-Mobile’s tool in a recent press release.
The three big carriers have a long history of fighting one another in court and before the BBB’s National Advertising Division (NAD) and its appellate body, the National Advertising Review Board (NARB).
The big three also regularly trade places in national awards for fastest mobile providers by organizations such as Ookla, but T-Mobile has been on top for several quarters in a row.
According to data published by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), T-Mobile’s 7/1 5G network reaches 36% of studied areas in the U.S., while AT&T’s reaches 29%. Verizon’s 7/1 network reaches 9.25%.
Meanwhile, each provider has a slew of mobile virtual network operators in addition to offering its own mobile network, and each provides fixed wireless home internet in areas where its respective cellular network has excess capacity.
