Here's where T-Mobile's big old can of whoop could fail

The bravado was on full display when T-Mobile executives took the stage this week to declare network victory based on the Best Mobile Network award from Ookla. Or as newly minted T-Mobile spokesman Billy Bob Thornton put it: Some fancy experts did a “big old network test” that showed T-Mobile’s network is the best, ousting long-time network ruler Verizon and opening up a big old can of whoop. But there's reason for T-Mobile’s leadership to hesitate to go all-in on the network supremacy narrative: confirmation bias. That’s the tendency for people to interpret new evidence as confirmation of their existing beliefs or theories. People typically choose their mobile network provider because they think it offers the best service where they live, work, and play. Generally speaking, people don’t like to be told they’re wrong. If a carrier like, say, T-Mobile, hammers home that they made the wrong choice, these consumers will hunker down harder with AT&T or Verizon.