Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
AT&T Businesses Communications Network Networking The Internet

AT&T To Roll Out 5G Network That's Not Actually 5G (yahoo.com) 89

AT&T announced plans to deliver what it's calling the "5G Evolution" network to more than 20 markets by the end of the year. While the company is "using some wordsmithing to deliver to you faster internet speeds," it's important to note that this is not actually a real 5G network. Yahoo reports: 5G still has years of development and testing before it will be rolled out across the U.S. So don't let AT&T's use of "5G" make you think that the next-generation wireless standard has arrived. In reality, the 5G AT&T is talking about is a bumped-up version of its 4G LTE to help it bridge the gap until the real 5G, with its ultra-fast speeds and better bandwidth, is rolled out. It's also important to note that AT&T won't offer its 5G Evolution technology to all of its customers initially. In fact, it's currently only available in Austin, TX, and the company plans to extend it to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other big markets in the coming months. If you're in a smaller metro market, you'll be out of luck. Perhaps the biggest limitation, and the reason few people will likely have the chance to actually use the 5G Evolution, is that AT&T is restricting it to select devices -- specifically, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+. While that's great if you have one of those particular phones in one of the specific cities where AT&T's faster service exists, it's not so great if you're using another device.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

AT&T To Roll Out 5G Network That's Not Actually 5G

Comments Filter:
  • by Anonymous Coward

    "xLTE" is what they called it and its still plain 4g/LTE

    • by msauve ( 701917 )
      First, "G" means generation, so what some industry marketing group says it means, it doesn't.

      In the US,
      1G=AMPS
      2G=CDMA/TDMA
      3G=CDMA2000/HSDPA
      4G=LTE(IMS)
      5G=what's next.

      XLTE seems to be a marketing term used to indicate an increase in available channels (spectrum), not a fundamental increase in speed due to a change of modulation. Any speed increase is due to less sharing of spectrum. It seems that's what ATT is doing here. OTOH, VZW seems to be increasing throughput with their LTE-A, which uses wider channe
      • No, the 5G network will be what the The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (The guys who actually define this, being the telco working body in charge). Its a work in process and all the stakeholders agree on that much.

        My iphone 7 gets 127mbps/s8.87mbps. Thats 4G

        5G research is including things like milimeter wavelength coms (20+ghz) and likely will crack the 1gbps barrier.

        • by msauve ( 701917 )
          "No, the 5G network will be what the The Next Generation..."

          Oh, bullshit. You've fallen for marketing. No one voted them in charge of the dictionary, and what "generation" means. They're like the advertisers who decided "synthetic" oil doesn't have to be synthetic [caranddriver.com], that it can be whatever suits their purposes.
          • "Oh, bullshit. You've fallen for marketing. No one voted them in charge of the dictionary"

            This is not how standards bodies work.

            NGMNA is simply a working group of mobile networks and handset makers who sit around and come up with a set of standards as to what will be called "5G". For 4G they settled on the LTE family of protocols of which LTEX is one of those standards. They are recognized by governments, standards super-bodies such as the IEEE, the mobile handset makers and the networks. Thats as close to

        • And we'll still have data limits 5GB (mines 300MB) which means we'll blow through them in seconds.

      • XLTE seems to be a marketing term used to indicate an increase in available channels (spectrum)

        That's still okay. An Australian provider advertised the same spectrum increase as 4G Plus. Not to be confused with 4G+ which is the colloquial name for LTE-A which wasn't offered by the provider at the time.

      • AT&T has been branding their HSPA network as "4G" for years. AT&T retail phones show "4G" for HSPA and "4G LTE" for LTE.
        • AT&T has been branding their HSPA network as "4G" for years. AT&T retail phones show "4G" for HSPA and "4G LTE" for LTE.

          Correct. 4G was technically a 3.5G. LTE wasn't really what 4G was suppose to be either since 4G was suppose to be a pure data network; they never quite made it. 5G might be what 4G was suppose to be...but not likely...it's all re-branding for marketing purposes.

  • ALSO worth noting... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Narcocide ( 102829 )

    ... their "4G LTE" was never actually 4G either. This will still just be a third generation network with extra lies.

    • by infolation ( 840436 ) on Thursday April 27, 2017 @08:23PM (#54316909)
      So if 4.5G [wikipedia.org] is really more like 3.5G, then 5G will be more like 3.75G?

      They really do need to decide whether the arbitrary unit of 'G' is an integer or floating-point value.
      • by Anonymous Coward

        well, given the upcoming destruction of network neutrality rules by the current u.s. administration, and the flurry of megamergers that will no-doubt be coming as well.. the new '5g' is probably more like "0.3125g" for consumers... you'll pay double for it, too, and like it.

      • At this rate it'll need to be a 64bit int.

  • ...here we an only get dialup Internet.
    • Here's a thought: Elect some actual civic leaders in Seattle instead of the loony crop of social activists and grandstanders currently in leadership positions.

      At this moment, Mayor Murray's next big thing is implementing a new soda tax. Oh, but he's now considering taxing diet sodas too, because someone told him that black and poor people drink more regular soda than white and affluent people, and we wouldn't want a racist, regressive tax. And Councilwoman Sawant is actively encouraging protesters to ill

  • by toonces33 ( 841696 ) on Thursday April 27, 2017 @08:23PM (#54316905)

    and call it 11G.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      I was watching a TV Pilot the other day for a Show that eventually got picked up. It started out commonly enough- People are enjoying a Concert, when a Mobile Phone starts going off. This causes some annoyance, until the Lead excuses himself to answer it.
      The Lead was Maxwell Smart, and he answered his Shoe-Phone. I could tell that this was the Pilot; it was the only episode where Maxwell Smart drove a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT PF Spider Cabriolet. (I have a 1960 model myself...)

      So ever since 1965, phones that exi

  • These standards are just media propaganda. Upgrade because we iterated the standard!

    This happens every time. A company says hey, we are improving service, then irrelevant new organizations like Yahoo! publish articles saying it is not really an upgrade, hoping the user will click the link so they don't go bankrupt.

  • Like when T-mobile called their H+ network 4G and then had to call their real 4G network "LTE"
  • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Thursday April 27, 2017 @10:20PM (#54317347)

    What unsuspected twist will come next next? Is Verizon or Comcast going to do something dishonest?! ;)

    • It is not dishonest if it is disclosed in the fine print on page 223 of the service agreement you signed.
      • by Anonymous Coward

        Actually, it's a violation of most State's Deceptive Trade Practices Acts when they play that one.

  • Let me guess, the Samsung Galaxy S 8/8+ are the only phones announced to work on this network because they're the only phones to have been announced so far that use the Snapdragon 835 chip, presumably the only chip that contains a modem that can interface with this network?

  • by jimbo ( 1370 ) on Friday April 28, 2017 @12:20AM (#54317681)

    Hmm, we should tell all marketing droids that the Earth is about to be consumed by a giant space goat. Put them on a space ship for evacuation and tell them the rest of us will follow soon.

  • http://dilbert.com/strip/2011-... [dilbert.com]

    Guess what doesn't mean goodness.

  • It's all OK because when the real 5G comes along they will market it as 6G - and people will flock in their millions to buy.

  • Isn't it interesting that a few generations ago AT&T / Bell Telco was the source of revolutionary new inventions that changed the world?

    Now, their chief expertise seems to be in finding new and inventive ways to defraud and mislead their customers.

    Or is this just another case of the name of a (formerly) great American institution being used to cloak thieves in seeming legitimacy? (See Polaroid, Packard Bell, etc)

  • Thats nothing. I'm rolling out 6G. Its really RS-232 but the marketing department LOVE me.

  • It's the way they're sold.

    A smallish olive is graded for sale as "jumbo-sized".

    A medium sized olive is sold as "colossal".

    A large olive is sold as "super-mammoth".

  • The "4G" we have isn't really 4G, either. http://gizmodo.com/5680755/the... [gizmodo.com]

Real Programmers don't eat quiche. They eat Twinkies and Szechwan food.

Working...