Can You Really Make Remote Satellite Calls on AT&T?

Last week was a bad week for AT&T. They had a massive data breach that affected all their ~110-million customers, exposing calling and texting records. (Here’s an FAQ about the incident.) Also last week, some of their advertising came under scrutiny by the Better Business Bureau.

The BBB case was about a commercial that began airing in April that shows Ben Stiller on the top of a mountain where his golf ball landed. He is shown making an urgent satellite call on his regular AT&T phone to a golf pro for advice.

T-Mobile filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division (NAD) complaining that the service shown in the advertisement does not actually exist now and the commercial misleads people into believing that they can make calls even in really remote places.

*MOUSE PRINT:

This is the unreadable, faint, ambiguous, half-second disclosure that AT&T made in the commercial at the 47-second mark:

NAD examined the facts of the case and decided that one message conveyed by the commercial was that this satellite service was currently available to AT&T customers when in fact it is a planned service for the future.

What was missing, NAD says, was a clear and conspicuous disclosure saying that the service was not currently available. And if AT&T didn’t want to do that, they should discontinue that claim, the BBB ruled.

Well, old Ma Bell didn’t agree, and it is appealing the decision to the National Advertising Review Board.

What do you think watching that commercial? Does it give the impression that this satellite service is available now?