If you were glued to your TV for the entire duration of the Super Bowl, then you must have seen the T-Mobile ad that had Verizon taking potshots for its limited data plans. The video, which was the carrier's third for the night, borrowed from some BDSM scenes in Fifty Shades of Grey to drive home its message.
The idea is that Verizon's customers are in perpetual pain when using its services. A line stated how "every time you go over your data limit, you get punished."
That earned a gasp from Kristen Schaal, who played Ana Steele in the parody. The video ended with a statement that claimed "wireless pain is fine if you're into that sort of thing."
Verizon Responds
Verizon did not seem to like the allusion one bit, and it immediately took to Twitter posting that, yes, they are indeed into, well, BDSM and outlined a very different meaning.
Yes @Tmobile, we're into BDSM. Bigger coverage map, Devastating Speed, and Massive capacity.
— Verizon (@verizon) February 6, 2017
If you think you have seen the end of it, you have T-Mobile CEO John Legere to thank for the series of tweets that the rest of the Twitter world had to bear. He began with sober admonition for Verizon's social media team to calm down, only to attach a GIF that infuriated the other camp further.
.@verizon guys... it can't go any further. calm down. pic.twitter.com/jINXguIUAD — John Legere (@JohnLegere) February 6, 2017
You may be sure that Verizon would want to have the last world.
Unfortunately no one will hear your safe word if you're on @Tmobile. — Verizon (@verizon) February 6, 2017
Except that T-Mobile would have none of it.
They broke our Jealousy-O-Meter! Those aren't cheap, Vzw... https://t.co/Yh7MjGtcf4 — T-Mobile (@TMobile) February 6, 2017
T-Mobile vs. Verizon
The sheer level of vitriol involved in the feud is really not surprising given the bad blood that must have persisted when T-Mobile made fun of the Big Red in an ad featuring several talking dogs.
That particular video also criticized Verizon's newly announced data cap policy and suggested that its LTE infrastructure is already ageing and could no longer keep up with the volume of its users.
"The word for the day is 'logic' ... No matter how you spin it, our six-year lead in providing 4G LTE is a huge advantage to consumers, and strengthening our network with LTE-Advanced in 450 cities pulled Verizon further ahead," a fuming Verizon representative spat in an interview. "You remain a discount network by investing in cute ads rather than improving your spotty network."
Verizon's Data Cap
If you are not familiar about Verizon's data cap, it is the policy that replaced its unlimited internet plan. Verizon users are now constrained with a 200 GB limit, and heavy users found to be in the habit of exceeding it would be forced to a tiered data plan or even kicked out of the network for good.
The cap and recent changes to its user policies seem part of Verizon's preparation for the transition toward 5G technology. Bandwidth activity is feared to increase when it finally rolls out, particularly with the expectation that video streaming will significantly pick up.
T-Mobile, on the other hand, still boasts of unlimited data service.
