AT&T customers: Don’t be fooled if you see a “5G E” indicator on your phone
AT&T is trying desperately to convince its customers that it is leading the 5G speed charge. Last week, it launched the first 5G wireless hotspot device in 12 cities, or rather in the “parts” of those markets where 5G is available. Now, the carrier is changing an indicator on some Android phones to make it look like those phones may have connected to 5G technologies.
Don’t be fooled by this move, however. As FierceWireless reports, the indicator on those phones will change from “LTE” to “5G E” in certain markets. It’s the “E” part that’s the clue that something is fishy. This is to show that those phones are using what AT&T calls “5G Evolution” technologies. This means those phones will be connected to towers that have features like three-way carrier aggregation, 4 x 4 MIMO antenna setups and 256-QAM modulation. While they offer faster download data speeds compared to standard LTE hardware, the top theoretical speeds only go up to 400Mbps, well below the speeds of true 5G hardware.
AT&T launched its “5G Evolution” speeds in 2017, and the carrier said it would be available in over 400 markets by the end of 2018. The carrier told FierceWireless that a handful of Android phones would see the new “5G E” indicator at first, but more would display it in 2019. For the limited markets where AT&T is selling its 5G mobile hotspot, the carrier is using the “5G+” branding. It will use AT&T’s millimeter wave spectrum on the 39GHz band.
This move by AT&T to shoehorn a “5G E” indicator on phones will undoubtedly cause confusion among some of the carrier’s customers, who might think their phone has magically been upgraded to true 5G speeds. The first smartphones with real 5G hardware are not expected to launch until later in 2019.
from Android Authority http://bit.ly/2QPfDxB
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