AT&T lays plans to begin testing 5G data in 2016, brings back 2-for-1 iPhone deal

AT&T on Friday announced its plans to test 5G network technology, beginning with lab tests in the second quarter done in collaboration with Intel and Ericsson.

The first outdoor tests and trials will run over the summer, AT&T said. By the end of the year, those trials should include providing connections to "fixed locations" in Austin, Texas.

The carrier claimed that when it's complete, its 5G network should be able to provide speeds 10 to 100 times faster than an average LTE connection, measured in gigabits instead of megabits. Latency could be as low as 1 to 5 milliseconds.

AT&T didn't offer a specific timeline for when 5G would reach the public, but noted that the 3GPP standards group will probably complete the first phase of setting 5G standards in 2018, leaving an actual commercial launch a distant prospect.

In September Verizon announced its own plans to start testing 5G in 2016. The carrier made more conservative promises than AT&T, suggesting speeds up to 50 times those of LTE, and lag under 10 milliseconds. It also admitted that 5G would probably only come to the U.S. sometime after 2020.

The LTE standard still has room to grow, as carriers are still working on increasing the reach of LTE-Advanced, which can potentially hit speeds up to 450 megabits per second — faster than many landline Internet connections. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were the first Apple devices with LTE-Advanced support.

AT&T has meanwhile announced the return of a limited-time promotion offering a second "free" iPhone with the purchase of a new one. Both phones must initially be bought through AT&T's Next installment program, and the second one must moreover be on a new line and put on a 24-month payment scheme. Once the devices are on qualifying voice and data plans, the company will begin paying back $650 spread over the course of 30 monthly bill credits — starting sometime within the first three billing cycles.

13 Comments

late2bed 1 comment · 8 Years

About 8 years ago

Just visited AT&T's Web site. The offer is only for Scamsung Galaxy phones.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

It’s starting to look like wireless is the future of broadband. You can theorize all you want to about fiber optic cables to the premises but the fact remains that fiber is an expensive and labor intensive infrastructure project to build while antennas are relatively cheap and easy to maintain. Then there’s LiFi in the labs too. Providers will always opt for the most cost effective delivery system and wireless looks good in that respect. If I could get a reliable 450mbps wireless connection in my home that would be my broadband choice.

razorpit 1793 comments · 17 Years

AppleInsider said:

AT&T has meanwhile announced the return of a limited-time promotion offering a second "free" iPhone with the purchase of a new one. Both phones must initially be bought through AT&T's Next installment program, and the second one must moreover be on a new line and put on a 24-month payment scheme. Once the devices are on qualifying voice and data plans, the company will begin paying back $650 spread over the course of 30 monthly bill credits -- starting sometime within the first three billing cycles.

So in other words the 2 for 1 deal is a pain in the ass to take advantage of...

volcan 1799 comments · 10 Years

lkrupp said:

It’s starting to look like wireless is the future of broadband. You can theorize all you want to about fiber optic cables to the premises but the fact remains that fiber is an expensive and labor intensive infrastructure project to build while antennas are relatively cheap and easy to maintain. Then there’s LiFi in the labs too. Providers will always opt for the most cost effective delivery system and wireless looks good in that respect. If I could get a reliable 450mbps wireless connection in my home that would be my broadband choice.

As always, it depends. I think both fiber and wireless will continue to expand. New 5G wireless will be great IF you have a good connection. Many residential communities, including mine, have poor signals because nobody wants a cell tower in their neighborhood (depends where you live obviously). For similar reasons cell towers are difficult to permit and you need massive fiber installations from the tower to the datacenter so the infrastructure is not exactly trivial. Another consideration is that carriers have to pay land leases that can amount to several thousand per month per tower. In general, they will mostly just upgrade their existing towers to 5G rather than build new ones.

On the other hand, fiber is necessary for businesses that require static IPs and fiber also comes with a guaranteed speed unlike wireless. There are many new data centers being built and they all need fiber, so I think the future will clearly include a lot of fiber, but faster wireless would certainly be welcome as well.

jackansi 116 comments · 10 Years

lkrupp said:

It’s starting to look like wireless is the future of broadband. You can theorize all you want to about fiber optic cables to the premises but the fact remains that fiber is an expensive and labor intensive infrastructure project to build while antennas are relatively cheap and easy to maintain. Then there’s LiFi in the labs too. Providers will always opt for the most cost effective delivery system and wireless looks good in that respect. If I could get a reliable 450mbps wireless connection in my home that would be my broadband choice.

*Bandwidth caps, throttling and overage charges ~~may~~ will definitely apply.

Until that line disappears from wireless, specifically the wireless talked about here, suggesting it as "the future of broadband" only shows willful ignorance of the real world.