T-Mobile has fairly consistently blasted AT&T and Verizon for fifth generation (5G) wireless hype, though the company is no stranger to 5G hype of its own. T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray posted a blog entry arguing that AT&T and Verizon are hyping unavailable 5G technology to overshadow the fact that T-Mobile is now neck and neck with them in terms to network speed and performance.

Companies like Verizon have traditionally justified their higher prices by claiming network superiority, a claim that isn't quite what it used to be after T-Mobile's growth and the return of unlimited data.

Ray points to a new Open Signal study that claims T-Mobile now offers the fastest current generation (LTE) wireless broadband speeds.

"Naturally, the Duopoly is now desperate to try to change the subject," Ray argues. "Verizon even launched a multi-million-dollar ad campaign to do just that. It’s classic carrier strategy. If you can’t win, distract, distort, confuse, convolute."

T-Mobile again mocked AT&T for its "5G Evolution" marketing hype, which tried to confuse consumers into conflating 4x4 MIMO antennas and 256 QAM technology with 5G. The company also mocked Verizon for consistently missing its own 5G deadlines, and for hyping a fixed 5G service Ray claims won't scale successfully.

"Why does it matter that Verizon doesn’t use 5G industry standards?" Ray asked. "Well, it won’t scale and won’t work with the vast majority of 5G smartphones that will come to market, which will be standards based. Oh, and Verizon still hasn’t gotten the message that mobile 5G is what matters. So, not only is Verizon standing alone on the Fixed 5G Island, but it *really* is an island!"

Of course T-Mobile has been no stranger to its own 5G hype, though it has been careful to at least make clear that 5G isn't an official standard yet, and any real-world deployment of it isn't likely to occur until 2020 or so.

"I can’t believe I have to say this, but yes, industry standards matter," notes the CTO. "Verizon’s ignoring them in their rush to fixed 5G this year, but that just means they’re building a bridge to nowhere. 5G should be built with interoperability and scalability in mind … and that means respecting industry standards."

T-Mobile is promising to use its 600 MHz spectrum to launch 5G "nationwide" by 2020, a promise you'll likely want to bookmark and come back to, since there's numerous logistical hurdles tied to this incentive auction spectrum T-mobile needs to overcome for this timeline to stick.