AT&T Sues Charter for 'Fiber-Powered Internet' Ads
The carrier is also alleging false advertising in a lawsuit against T-Mobile
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2026 – AT&T sued Charter Communications Friday for false advertising.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleged the cable giant was misleading customers into thinking its broadband network was 100 percent fiber.
Charter’s network is mostly fiber, but the large majority of its last-mile consumer connections are over coaxial cable.
In ads for its Spectrum brand broadband service, Charter says its service refers to its service as “fiber-powered.”
“That claim conveys to reasonable consumers the misleading impression that Spectrum Internet is a fiber-to-the-home service comparable to AT&T Fiber,” AT&T attorney Pete Marketos wrote in the complaint.
He later added that Charter’s advertising “directly targets consumers who might otherwise choose AT&T as their provider.”
AT&T asked the court to block Charter from using the phrase and potentially award the wireless carrier damages.
A Charter spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s not the first time AT&T has gone after Charter for the “fiber-powered” language.
The carrier previously filed a complaint on the issue with BBB National Program’s National Advertising Division, a self-regulatory body that adjudicates advertising disputes among companies.
In March 2026, Charter agreed to start “clearly and conspicuously disclosing that Spectrum’s fiber-powered internet services are not delivered to customers’ homes over a fiber-to-the-home infrastructure,” and NAD dismissed the case.
Charter recently closed its acquisition of Cox Communications, which will make it the largest cable ISP in the country. Cox also calls its broadband “fiber-powered,” according to the complaint.
Telecom companies frequently complain about each other's advertising claims before the NAD. AT&T sued the body last year when NAD said one of its ads bashing T-Mobile ran afoul of its rules, but later dropped the case.
AT&T and T-Mobile are embroiled in another lawsuit in which AT&T is alleging false advertising.
AT&T had initially sued over a T-Mobile switching tool that AT&T said was illegally scraping customer data, which a judge shut down, but the carrier submitted a new complaint earlier this month alleging “nationwide false and misleading advertising aimed at driving customers from AT&T to T-Mobile continues unabated.”
