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AT&T Communications Network United States

AT&T Opens 5G Network in 12 US Cities, Announces Pricing For First 5G Mobile Device and Service (venturebeat.com) 59

Posted by msmash from the so-it-begins dept.
AT&T said Tuesday its network is now live in parts of 12 cities across the United States, with the first mobile 5G device arriving on Friday, December 21. From a report: According to an AT&T spokesperson, the company's 5G network is already up and running in parts of the previously promised dozen cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Louisville, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Raleigh, San Antonio, and Waco. However, the first consumer device that will be able to access that network, Netgear's Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot, will become available just ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The company also revealed that it will be using the name "5G+" for the part of its network that will use millimeter wave spectrum and technologies, and it said the Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot will run on that 5G+ network. [...] AT&T's 5G pricing is also interesting. Like Verizon, AT&T is offering an initial promotion that makes the hardware and 5G service cheap up front, with new pricing set to follow later. Early adopters from the consumer, small business, and business markets will be able to "get the mobile 5G device and wireless data at no cost for at least 90 days," AT&T says, with new pricing beginning in spring 2019. At that point, the Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot will cost $499 outright, with 15GB of 5G service priced at $70 per month, which AT&T calls "comparable" to its current $50 monthly charge for 10GB of 4G data.
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AT&T Opens 5G Network in 12 US Cities, Announces Pricing For First 5G Mobile Device and Service More

AT&T Opens 5G Network in 12 US Cities, Announces Pricing For First 5G Mobile Device and Service

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  • 15 gig? (Score:3)

    by ganjadude ( 952775 ) on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:34PM (#57825278) Homepage
    if the speeds are to be believed, 15 GB will take what 3 minutes to max out???

    • But it's only a dollar a megabyte after that!

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I'm sure we'll find out that 5G+ is really just 4G with carrier aggregation or some other half-assery. Everyone's dream of unlimited mobile internet will never happen as long as the cell carriers are in charge.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Everyone's dream of unlimited mobile internet will never happen as long as the laws of physics are in charge.

        FTFY

        • No laws of physics are being broken (Score:5, Informative)

          by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @05:29PM (#57826928)
          While over-the-air bandwidth is bound by Shannon's limit [wikipedia.org], that only applies to shared channels. The MU-MIMO found on most 802.11ac implementations gets around this limitation by making the channels directional. It's basically a simplified form of phased array radar, where you can "point" the antenna via software rather than have to physically move it. For a visual analogy, 802.11a/b/g/n is like turning the room light on and off, and the device receive the light signal by measuring the overall brightness of the room. MIMO is like the sender shining a laser pointer at the receiver, and the receiver using a tube to reject light from any direction other than the sender's direction. Whereas the room light affects and interferes with all other light-based communication in the room (the channel is shared), the laser pointer only interferes if you happen to be in the same line as the sender to recipient. Since the information channel is no longer shared, the Shannon limit no longer applies, and everyone is able to use the full bandwidth of the airwaves simultaneously.

          5G includes MIMO [ieee.org], enabling it to communicate with individual devices simultaneously over the same frequencies without interference. So going forward, I expect the Shannon limit to be less and less relevant to wireless communications.

          As I've been saying, 5G doesn't really benefit you in the best-case scenarios people usually use for comparisons (nobody except you is using the cell tower for data). It benefits you in the worst-case scenario (lots of other people are competing with you for bandwidth to a cell tower).

    • att OTT tv will not count or if it does then it's time to think about dish before att kills directv and there is an long waiting list to get service.

    • Nope, it'll take about a year because they will give you consistently bad speeds like LTE in the US.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jon3k ( 691256 )
      https://arstechnica.com/inform... [arstechnica.com]

      While Verizon said its wireless home Internet service will have no data caps, Verizon's "unlimited" mobile services can be throttled during times of network congestion after customers use a certain amount each month. We asked Verizon if a similar limitation will be applied to 5G home Internet and will update this story if we a get a response. We also asked Verizon for the service's upload speeds and information about what equipment will be used in the home.

      (UPDATE: A Verizon spokesperson told us the service won't have any throttling. Service at each home will rely on a router, and possibly an exterior antenna "depending on the customer's location," Verizon also told Ars.)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      The pipe and tube network to the "5G" will get too full of users moving "gig" data sets around.
      The better solution would be to build a huge new pipe and tube network.

      The telco way is to price and limit "gig" use so much that the existing network will still work.
      All the optics and branding of a new amazing service. Less pipe and tube spending to take away from short term profits.

    • 5G is supposed to be capable of 4 Gb/sec, but let's assume you won't really get anything close to that. 1 Gb/sec is probably more realistic. At that speed, you'll need 8 seconds to transfer 1 GB, 120 seconds to transfer 15 GB. So yeah, not even 3 minutes.

      That makes this absurd. The only advantage of 5G is its speed. Then they set a data cap so low the service is useless if you actually try to use that speed.

  • So based on it arriving next year, it will probably be 2025 before it is both in my mid-sized town, AND affordable enough to actually use for all but the most wealthy of families.

    That's OK... faster is always better, but I don't feel a pressing need to do 5G. 4G is good enough for most things.

    • 5G rollout is going to go quickly. There are way too many revenue opportunities to exploit with its feature set.

      • 5G rollout is going to go quickly. There are way too many revenue opportunities to exploit with its feature set.

        I'm still waiting on Google Fiber, none in my state. We still have the cable monopoly on broadband internet. As long as fiber internet has been around, I'm not optimistic for 5G anytime soon. I hope you're right, but I'm not optimistic. Not that I can afford $70 for 5 people each to get 5G. Probably be some family discounts- but at a base of $350 a month... nah, hard pass... be a while for prices to come down enough.

        • Google got bored with Fiber. Too much trouble. I am pretty sure what ATT is selling here though is fixed point 5G to replace people with cable/DSL connections. You would only need one hotspot per household.
          • At 15Gb max? No thanks.
            • It isn't 15GB max. Think of the 15GB as your free usage. You only have to pay a small fee (per GB) if you exceed your free usage amount.

              • It isn't 15GB max. Think of the 15GB as your free usage. You only have to pay a small fee (per GB) if you exceed your free usage amount.

                I'm sure my family probably does several times 15GB at home... one kid or another is constantly watching Hulu or Netflix, there are several hours of video chat going on between kids and their friends each day.

                15GB would be eaten in a week easily... My family probably isn't the target demographic here, but not knowing how much extra they charge per GB but I could easily see the bill going into the hundreds if this is to replace an ISP. Only really good for people who haven't cut the cord or use very little

                • Re: So... it will probably be 2025 (Score:4)

                  by jwhyche ( 6192 ) on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @03:22PM (#57826134) Homepage

                  I do 15 GB a night alone streaming documentaries and old Doctor Who re-runs. I introduced my millennial daughter and her friends to the Tom Baker doctor. They looked at me like I had turned green when I told them this was Doctor Who.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by mysidia ( 191772 )

                  15GB would be eaten in a week easily...

                  My home's daily internet usage is about 25GB --- just from typical surfing and video;
                  when I actually need to download something like a set of Linux DVDs, much more,
                  although its a frustrating long wait, since i'm only getting about 16 Megabits down 3 Megabits on cable.

                  The major frustrations are (1) The poor upstream speed --- makes attempting to do any live outgoing video streaming or uploading files hard. Other applications on the network stop working whe

              • Just checked my cell phone. It says I used 18GB myself, primarily through a 3.0Mbps DSL connection. That doesn't count the usage of 4 other people in my household, or whatever the DirecTV boxes are using for on demand, or "rewind to the beginning", or whatever we did on computers or streaming devices or firmware for all the stuff hanging off my network... Nor does it count for the 3GB 4G data my wife and I use. Even a small fee per GB sounds like a several hundred dollar bill every month.
        • The perfect excuse to cut my kids loose and let them pay for their own phones. And maybe my wife too.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Like? LTE speeds were supposed to be 100mbit+ in the US, and still most places can barely get 5mbit if I'm lucky. Meanwhile, I go to Italy and France, I'm getting consistent 50-100mbit over LTE. I'm not holding my breath with 5G, considering it's going to have consistent bad connections in buildings. I'm tired of all these false promises of these telcos and ISP's. No one has held them accountable yet for their BS yet so they keep pulling off this nonsense and it's only getting worse. They'll hype up a few c

      • There is no such thing as a 5G network, or 4G, 3G, 2G, etc.
        The entire wireless network was paid for in the 1980s / early 1990s and everything after that has been nothing but profit for the greedy capitalists. I know this because I read it on Slashdot.

        The billions of dollars that the wireless carriers spend on network upgrades every year are just pretend. Everything was already paid for by that ten million bucks back in 1988. Slashdot comments tell me so.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AHuxley ( 892839 )
          The "network upgrades" that can now support a few "gig" in data in 2018?
          Thats some amazing "network upgrades" ready for 2018.
          So few "gig" can fit down the network and so much to pay.
          The "network upgrades" are on the way soon?
    • this has the real potential to get them broadband where it's too expensive to run cable but with prices like this it's not really practical. You'd think they'd be more upset by that.
      • Maybe they will solve the price problem with scaling, maybe they won't. Frankly in rural areas many of the "best coverage" areas on coverage maps have large swaths of complete lack of service. By the time I get a functional 5G tower, which I understand have to be denser than existing towers, I'll likely have fiber service within a mile of my house. I'm not nearly as remote as some folks, but with the density requirement; I have no doubt that cell phone companies are going to leave rural customers once ag

    • Look at the bright point... once 2025 rolls around, you'll be able to hit your 20 GB "unlimited" data cap faster than ever!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

      Based on what I've heard from my VZW guys, you can shave five years off that number, their deployment plan is extremely aggressive. They're also investing in their own backhaul where possible rather than contracting out to the ILEC and are stringing/putting fiber in the ground everywhere. Should be interesting to watch.

  • I've been thinking about moving to Waco. This just sealed it.

    • I've been thinking about moving to Waco. This just sealed it.

      I hear there's a church there that's been looking for a new leader/messiah.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Oswald McWeany ( 2428506 )

        I hear there's a church there that's been looking for a new leader/messiah.

        It's sad, that happened decades ago, but that's still what I think of whenever I hear Waco.

        • Fixer Upper has done a lot for the PR of Waco, but yeah, that whole situation really tarnished the city's reputation.

          My company is in the general area (a couple hours away), so I've gone to the Baylor career fair a few times. It's actually a nice enough city. It's got a good mid-sized town vibe where you feel like you could know the place inside and out without feeling like it's restrictively small. It's a shame I oftentimes still internally think of it as "Wacko" because of the Branch Davidians.

  • and att things they can replace dsl with this?

    Then that has an much bigger cap.

  • $500 for an att only router? with battery and screen? If they want to replace dsl then they need an much cheaper one with an antenna port.

  • Even Waco, of all places, is getting 5G. Take this! David Koresh would have been really proud if he was still alive.

  • I don't care about increasing my cell phone, I want to ditch cable internet. And this either doesn't seem to address that market or at 15G max for $70 certainly doesn't meet the need.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jwhyche ( 6192 )

      I don't want to ditch cable internet as much as I want to see more competition. I've been stuck with comcast for the several years and pretty much had to put up with whatever crap they felt like pulling. Last year AT&T wired my apartment for fiber. They sing a different tune now that I'm not locked into just them.

      Yeah, I know AT&T is just as evil so I'm still with comcast on the "devil you know" principal.

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