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.
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I used the words: reasonable restraints
There is probably some reasonable middle ground that reasonable adults can find consensus on between no regulation and total regulation.
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More like an old guy without viagra to a porn star with viagra.
There are supposed to be "rules" that have to followed to use 5G, after the 3G AND 4G debacles, but no, if you are a big corporation, why bother.
Expect all the other big carriers to announce their brand new 5G networks next week.
Verizon did this as well (Score:1)
"xLTE" is what they called it and its still plain 4g/LTE
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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
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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.
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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.
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"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
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And we'll still have data limits 5GB (mines 300MB) which means we'll blow through them in seconds.
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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.
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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)
... their "4G LTE" was never actually 4G either. This will still just be a third generation network with extra lies.
Re:ALSO worth noting... (Score:4, Funny)
They really do need to decide whether the arbitrary unit of 'G' is an integer or floating-point value.
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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.
Re: ALSO worth noting... (Score:2)
At this rate it'll need to be a 64bit int.
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No, 3G is a standard.
3G has bandwidth between 20/5 and 600/100 Mbps. 4G should give you 1G/500. In the US you get 2G, 3G at best.
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What does it say on phones elsewhere?
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What does it say on phones elsewhere?
Marketing speak.
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No I ment like do phones still say 3G in Europe? Or do they lie about the actual standard like they do in the US?
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In the EU you can get 100Mbps speeds on a phone. It correctly identifies 3G/LTE/4G according to your plan, the cheaper plans still being 3G ($5-15/mo) and the more expensive plans ($20-50) giving you more speeds. Data is usually unlimited (or at least has a very high limit) but text and voice are limited on a per minute/SMS. Most countries also require all phones to be unlocked and portable.
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The specifications still exist though, regardless of the false advertising, only in the US and for the better part of the last decade has the FCC and other government organizations given latitude to providers to allow falsely advertised network generations (part of the so-called 'net neutrality' laws allowing T-Mobile and others to zero-rate their content).
The 5G spec won't even be finished until 2020 so it's impossible for anyone, even AT&T to currently even create modems, antenna systems or implementa
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I also am shocked that Verizon's newly purchased mouth piece doesn't have great things to say about AT&T's latest marketing initiative.
Wish they had this in Seattle... (Score:1)
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Obama had 8 years, and he still has dial up. So it is Obama's fault , too many people were getting Obama phones.
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Uhmm the obama phones have way better than dailup internet speeds.
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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
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Well, most of the US market called 3.5G for 4G until the real 4G LTE tech was launched. So the precedence for the American market is there. You round up!
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We seem to apply this same principle to business. You fail, just reverse the direction of the fall so that you somehow still succeed.
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No 5G standard yet, 4G is gigabit speeds so there is no need yet but there is a standards body that defines them but US providers ignore that and give you 2G at best.
They could channel "This is Spinal Tap" (Score:5, Funny)
and call it 11G.
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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
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So What (Score:1)
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.
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Now that there's no longer a functional FCC, there is nobody to stop them.
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Excuse me, but...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Like T-Mobile did with 4G (Score:1)
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And....AT&T did this next...so this is really not new for them.
Dishonesty from AT&T?! (Score:4, Interesting)
What unsuspected twist will come next next? Is Verizon or Comcast going to do something dishonest?! ;)
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Actually, it's a violation of most State's Deceptive Trade Practices Acts when they play that one.
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You're way behind the curve. Check out the news.
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Ya, I had the fun of calling AT&T or Verizon, I forget which, to ask about their Pay As You Go plan for cell. It was a fixed amount + x per month. I explained to the salesbot that Pay As You Go means I pay for as much as I use. She insisted Pay As You Go means that. I Insisted the fixed amount meant that it didn't. She insisted it was.
It was like arguing with Trump.
Galaxy S 8 (Score:2)
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?
Do like the Golgafrichans (Score:3)
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.
Obligatory Dilbert (Score:2)
http://dilbert.com/strip/2011-... [dilbert.com]
Guess what doesn't mean goodness.
It's OK (Score:2)
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.
How far CAN they fall? (Score:2)
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)
5G is SOOO 5 minutes ago., (Score:2)
Thats nothing. I'm rolling out 6G. Its really RS-232 but the marketing department LOVE me.
How are data plans like olives? (Score:2)
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".
To be honest... (Score:2)