T-Mobile is pushing back against AT&T's request for an emergency court order, saying there's no emergency to begin with. The company argues that the version of its Easy Switch tool that AT&T is complaining about doesn't even exist anymore.
According to PhoneArena, T-Mobile filed a response brief that calls AT&T's legal motion "defective" because AT&T customers haven't been able to use the original Easy Switch feature since before AT&T filed its lawsuit on November 30. The company disabled the automated switching feature for AT&T customers after the carrier blocked its customers from using it.
The whole dispute centers on T-Mobile's Easy Switch tool in its T-Life app, which was designed to help people move from AT&T or Verizon to T-Mobile. The original version let customers log into their existing AT&T or Verizon accounts, and artificial intelligence would analyze their current plans, phone lines, and device payments. It would then suggest a comparable T-Mobile plan and show potential savings. The entire switching process was supposed to take just 15 minutes instead of hours.
AT&T wasn't happy about this. The company claimed T-Mobile was breaking its Terms of Use and copying over 100 categories of customer information, which could put people at risk of identity theft and fraud. AT&T wanted the court to make T-Mobile stop using the tool and delete all the information it collected.
But T-Mobile says AT&T is asking the court to stop something that's already been stopped. In its legal response, T-Mobile made clear it won't be bringing back the original version of Easy Switch. The company now requires AT&T customers to either manually enter their account information or upload a PDF of their bill if they want to compare plans.
T-Mobile defended the original tool as completely legal, explaining that customers were signing into their own accounts and voluntarily sharing their information with T-Mobile on their own phones. The company included screenshots showing that AT&T customers could see their account data on their phone screens before anything was shared with T-Mobile.
T-Mobile also questioned one of AT&T's claims that the Easy Switch tool could cause "high unanticipated traffic" requiring AT&T to invest in extra server infrastructure. The implication seems to be that AT&T might have exaggerated the technical impact of customers using the switching tool.
The judge has scheduled an in-person court hearing for December 16, giving both companies a chance to argue their positions.
Source: PhoneArena
