The chest-thumping on 5G is on an all-time high.
AT&T has become the first carrier to hit speeds of 2Gbps in the US. The carrier achieved the speeds of slightly above 2Gbps on its commercial, live 5G network in Atlanta.
It will further push the envelope in the rush to roll out 5G offerings to consumers.
The milestone, revealed by AT&T in their official blog post, was recorded with a mobile router, the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot, and comes nearly a month after AT&T struck the 1Gbps mark in several cities across the US.
If sustained, 2Gbps 5G speeds will help users download a 1-hour HD video at a breakneck speed of just 5 seconds.
That’s some serious pace, isn’t it?
However, doing that in reality will be easier said than done.
To reach and sustain speeds of 2Gbps is unlikely at present with any carrier.
However, it will need a millimeter wave (mmWave) connection, which is largely rare at present, particularly indoors.
Also, the latest 2Gbps speed by AT&T was attained using a hotspot device on the carrier’s public-facing 5G network, and it still remains unknown if phones with built-in 5G capabilities will be able to deliver results just as well.
In an official blog post, AT&T reaffirmed its focus on making further developments of the 5G technology. The carrier is committed to finding new ways of unleashing the true potential of 5G, which will witness several glorious and rewarding milestones along the roadmap.
5G is the fifth-gen wireless network that promises radically-improved download and upload speeds, instant communication, and the potential to let loose a never-seen-before world of connected things.
The carrier said that it will launch a standards-based mobile 5G network nationwide by 2020, after rolling out 5G in 21 American states by the fall of this year.
Sprint, AT&T resolve 5G Evolution rift
While AT&T is on the driver’s seat in the development and deployment of 5G technology across the US, it has also faced quite a few rounds of criticism for 5G Evolution.
Also, the marketing plan proposed for rebranding millions of 4G LTE phones with 5G E indicators, potentially confusing consumers that 5G is now live when it is still in the development phase.
Competitors, as well as consumers, trolled AT&T for the deceptive move, and rival Sprint even filed a lawsuit on AT&T over acquisitions of misleading branding. Sprint even took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times to term 5G E as ‘fake 5G’.
AT&T and Sprint have “amicably resolved” their legal rift. However, the terms of their settlement were not revealed, but it seems like AT&T will be able to retain their 5G Evolution branding.