- In an internal memo, AT&T called out T-Mobile Priority as a marketing campaign that can confuse the public safety community.
- The AT&T document highlights how its dedicated network is more reliable and doesn’t use untested technology.
- AT&T also notes it will eventually use 5G slicing as well, but only for specific priority uses and only after further testing.
A few weeks ago we reported on T-Priority, T-Mobile’s new network slice dedicated to first responders. Although T-Mobile made a big deal out of the new program and the cutting-edge tech it is using, AT&T has a lot less rosy things to say about it. The Mobile Report has obtained an internal AT&T document alerting its employees that T-Mobile’s T-Priority is nothing more than a marketing campaign meant to target AT&T’s own federally-backed FirstNet program while also creating “confusion with the public safety community”.
While you might just think AT&T has sour grapes here, the internal document makes some pretty good points. First, T-Mobile’s word choices make it sound like it’s doing something superior to its rivals and while its service might be faster, it’s not necessarily more reliable. Both AT&T and Verizon have existing programs that use specific bands for first responders. AT&T FirstNet’s network is entirely dedicated to first responders and utilizes band 14, while Verizon FrontLine uses band 13, though it’s not fully dedicated for first responder use alone.