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We recently covered the news that T-Mobile’s AI-based “Switching Made Easy” tool had rubbed competitors AT&T and Verizon the wrong way. Specifically, AT&T was so mad they filed legal documents to get T-Mobile to stop.
The “Switching Made Easy” tool was designed to help prospective customers switch over to T-Mobile from their existing carrier in as little as 15 minutes (per line). The tool initially allowed customers to log into their Verizon or AT&T account directly in the app, and allow the AI tool to scan a user’s account data.
Verizon and AT&T quickly blocked the tool on their end, and T-Mobile even played a cat-and-mouse game with AT&T where they repeatedly bypassed AT&T’s attempts to block them. AT&T filed suit.
The latest news in the case is that a judge has granted AT&T’s motion to immediately stop T-Mobile from scraping AT&T customer data. As reported by Light Reading, the federal judge not only agreed to force T-Mobile to stop the scraping, but also agreed that the scraping could lead to AT&T suffering actual harms.
T-Mobile has said that they’ve already shut down the scraping tool back on November 26th, after AT&T supposedly won the aforementioned cat-and-mouse game. T-Mobile also said they have no plans to re-enable it. Therefore, they say, AT&T’s entire lawsuit is now unnecessary. T-Mobile now relies on customers to upload a PDF bill of their account to aid in the switching process.
AT&T meanwhile has responded to T-Mobile’s claims that the tool won’t be used again, saying the following:
“We appreciate T-Mobile says they will stop recklessly scraping customer data for now. We ask that they commit—on the record—to never employing these unlawful tactics that put customers and intellectual property rights at risk again.”
– AT&T
As for T-Mobile, they had the following to say:
“We remain laser-focused on innovating for customers, making the switching process seamless. Creating simple digital experiences like Easy Switch is at the heart of the Un-carrier movement. AT&T has chosen to spend their time in court litigating over technology that is no longer available rather than innovating. Even AT&T’s CEO recently said that digital innovation is “consistent with what customers want to see and it’s consistent with where the market is going.” We agree, and we welcome collaboration with AT&T and others on digital solutions that benefit customers, even if they decide to switch.”
– T-Mobile
The case is scheduled to continue sometime in January.
