AT&T and T-Mobile reached a settlement over the “un-carrier’s” ad campaign that claimed AT&T doesn’t give discounts to seniors who live outside Florida.
AT&T brought the lawsuit last year after T-Mobile began touting its T-Mobile Unlimited 55+ plan and claiming that “92% of seniors in the U.S. can’t get a wireless discount from Verizon or AT&T because they don’t live in Florida.”
That sparked outrage, and AT&T filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Sherman Division. In the complaint, AT&T accused T-Mobile of false advertising and said the company’s ad campaign was “intentionally designed to deceive senior citizens.”
Law360 reported last week that the two companies had reached a settlement.
Both AT&T and T-Mobile confirmed the resolution to Fierce, providing identical statements. “The parties have reached a mutually agreeable resolution,” AT&T said, declining to provide details. A T-Mobile spokesperson provided the same: “The parties have reached a mutually agreeable resolution.”
T-Mobile vs. "The Carriers"
Initially, AT&T had asked for a jury trial and wanted T-Mobile to discontinue its advertising campaign and provide compensatory damages, attorneys fees and give up any profits made from the campaign.
But as Light Reading reported, T-Mobile’s website calling out AT&T’s and Verizon’s “ludicrous practices” remained up this week.
The cheeky site encourages bargain-minded seniors to switch to T-Mobile, but if they want to keep Verizon or AT&T and aren’t ready to switch, “move to Florida. Yes, we agree it seems extreme. Blame Verizon and AT&T.” Or, if they’re not ready to move, they can get a virtual Florida mailbox. "Yes, it’s still a lot of hoops to jump through, plus a monthly fee that eats away from the savings, but at least you don’t have to pack anything,” the site says.
On the AARP website, AARP members are offered a savings of up to $10 per line per month on AT&T’s Unlimited Premium plan and they can receive up to $50 in waived activation and upgrade fees.
On the BannedSeniors.com site, T-Mobile explained that the site is an offshoot of the Wireless Plan Information Center, which set up shop outside of Sun City, Arizona. It chose that location because it’s home to one of the largest retirement communities in the U.S. and it wanted to reach the most Verizon and AT&T customers 55+ as possible.