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506837-what-is-5g

The rollout of a new cellular data standard is rarely a inexpensive endeavor, but AT&T's early on pricing for its brand-new 5G service is raising eyebrows even so. The company declared itself the start firm to make mobile 5G service live today, thanks to its new service in parts of 12 cities. The network, which officially activates on December 21, will establish AT&T as "the commencement and only company in the U.S. to offering a mobile 5G device over a commercial, standards-based mobile 5G network."

Here's what that means: You now have the opportunity to pay $500 for a Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot, which converts a 5G signal into an 802.11ac or 802.11ax wireless hotspot. Tethering via USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) linkage is too available. Battery life details and capacity are not yet available, so nosotros don't know how long the hotspot lasts (the Netgear Nighthawk 5G contains a Snapdragon 855 SoC and X50 modem, co-ordinate to Anandtech).

NetgearNighthawk

Once you've shucked out $500 for the hardware, you lot have your selection of one data plan — $70 per month, for 15GB of data. The i advantage of this, I suppose, is that information technology'southward literally better than the $x/GB pricing that AT&T and its ilk were pushing back a few years ago. But at 5G data rates — commonly advertised as 1Gbps and upward — you can burn through all 15GB of information in nigh two minutes, assuming your connection is as fast as AT&T claims it could be. And so over again, AT&T charges $50/month for 10GB of 4G information, which does technically make this a better deal, at $4.67/GB as opposed to $5/GB.

Either way, both the data limits and the pricing per GB are cool for a product that comes with a mandatory $500 purchase fee. Service volition only be offered to select customers and businesses for the first part of 2019, in parts of the following cities to start with:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Charlotte, NC
  • Dallas, TX
  • Houston TX
  • Indianapolis, IN
  • Jacksonville, FL
  • Louisville, KY
  • Oklahoma City, OK
  • New Orleans, LA
  • Raleigh, NC
  • San Antonio, TX
  • Waco, TX

Service should expand into the parts of these additional cities through the get-go half of 2019:

  • Las Vegas, NV
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Nashville, TN
  • Orlando, FL
  • San Diego, CA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • San Jose, CA

AT&T has yet to state what speeds its 5G users should wait, and for now, the service is hotspot-only, with no support for mobile devices since no 5G handsets exist. Don't expect 5G service to e'er be inexpensive — AT&T and other executives are already salivating over new billing models that allow them to charge for premium 5G service tiers for, say, depression latency gaming access.

Now Read:

  • Verizon Launches 5G Network That Isn't 'Existent' 5G
  • Verizon Won't Accelerate 5G Rollout, Despite FCC Fee Reductions
  • Intel Accelerates 5G Modem Deployment, Could Power Commencement 5G iPhones