The race to build the nation’s best 5G network ahead of the 5G iPhone’s launch is heating up with AT&T expanding its 5G low-band service to six new cities, including NYC.
AT&T now boasts 19 cities with some 5G coverage. Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Detroit and Baltimore are the four other cities added recently.
10 other cities got AT&T 5G earlier this month. Keep in mind this is AT&T’s regular 5G network, and not the slower “5G E” moniker it started using last year to make its 4G network seem faster.
5G is coming to town
5G promises to be one of the biggest upgrades for smartphones in years. The first 5G networks are just a teaser of insanely fast data speeds that could be possible in the future. AT&T’s regular 5G network is built on the 850MHz spectrum. Speeds currently top 100Mbps on the low-band, but when millimeter band hits, speeds could reach 2Gbps.
AT&T is also rolling out its mmWave 5G+ network to select areas of Baltimore and Detroit. Regular customers can’t access it yet, but once you do you could get speeds just under 1Gbps.
The biggest problem with the 5G rollout though is there are only a handful of smartphones that can connect to the network. AT&T currently only supports the Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G. That will change throughout 2020. Apple is expected to launch its first 5G capable iPhone in the fall
