This 2019 is the year when 5G will be fully and commercially implemented. We know most carriers in South Korea are almost ready. In the US, the major mobile carriers have been expanding their coverage. T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T are the frontrunners. Recently, Verizon confirmed its 5G network launch and other related mobile Internet improvements. It has also expanded the 5G service to 20 more cities after Chicago and Minneapolis. Verizon rolled out the 5G Mobility Service and announced the exclusive 5G Moto Mod.
T-Mobile earlier announced that it’s not launching the 600MHz 5G service yet. We know it’s been working on the 5G technology together with Nokia.
As for AT&T, this company has been controversial. AT&T may price 5G plans based on speed and may be similar to broadband pricing. Mobile 5G will expand to more cities this year especially after hitting 1 Gigabit wireless speed on 5G.
It’s a first in the US but let’s not forget those fake “5G E” icons that showed up last year. Verizon called out AT&T for this practice to which the latter explained it’s simply an enhanced experience. To be fair, AT&T previously announced the 5G Evolution is just enhanced 4G–4G LTE-Advanced.
AT&T has partnered with Samsung to work on the technology. It was speeding up mobile 5G rollout with multi-gigabit speeds and more testing more than a year ago. AT&T also teamed up with Nokia for more connectivity trials as early as 2016.
Interestingly, that fake 5GE icon has just been added to AOSP as noted by an XDA developer. This only means one thing: it will be a valid option across the Android platform. Don’t be surprised if your Android Q phone shows the 5GE icon.
It only means you are connected to 4G LTE, not 5G. It doesn’t come close to 5G but way better than the standard 4G. There is no mention of a speed requirement, just a device-specific configuration setup.
