Since being the first to broadly deploy 4G LTE in December, 2010, Verizon has continued to invest billions of dollars into its network, expanding and enhancing its 4G LTE coverage, rolling out the latest and greatest advancements with LTE Advanced, while consistently winning numerous independent third party network awards (11 straight times according to RootMetrics' drivetests, 5 consecutive times named best by PC Magazine plus several others including receiving the J.D. Power award for top network quality for the 22nd time (in a row).

Next up is Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband service, a next generation network so advanced, it will help usher in the 4th industrial revolution. Now that’s a big deal! So why do we care when a competitor places icons on its customers' devices like 5Ge? Rebranding their own 4G LTE network as 5G misleads consumers at best and paints our industry in a negative light.

Which probably has you wondering, what is 5Ge? It’s nothing more than 4G LTE Advanced technology, something Verizon already has in place in more than 1,500 markets across the country, compared to AT&T's deployment in 400 cities.

So did we learn? You can’t just push down a new icon on a device and change its technology.

Real 5G, like Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network, requires new device hardware connecting to the network using new radio technology to deliver new capabilities. When we say 5G, we mean 5G.