AT&T Claims Its 5G Network Is Available Nationwide In The US

AT&T has recently announced that its 5G network has reached the nationwide availability status in the United States. The rollout began slowly starting with the major U.S. cities back in 2017. By nationwide understand that it’s available in every state and important city. Rural areas are still left out of course, as many of them don’t even have proper LTE coverage yet.

On the day of the announcement, the American telecommunications company has added 40 new markets to the list of 5G covered regions in the United States. The new list includes Daytona Beach (Florida), Minneapolis (MN), Houston and San Antonio (Texas). The complete list is available here.
AT&T claims that over 205 million customers are now able to use its 5G network. Are you among the lucky ones?

What Is 5G?

5G is a digital cellular network that comes to upgrade the current 4G (LTE) connectivity. It’s a big deal because it’s not only a faster way to download and upload data between wireless devices, but this new generation network is also able to host over one million wireless devices in a range of one square kilometre. Compare this with the 4000 devices that 4G can operate in the same area and you can easily notice an important benefit.
The downside is that 5G networks require more antennas to cover a cell and this is why it’s difficult to implement and extend the network.

How To Get Access To AT&T 5G

1. 5G Smartphone

First of all you need a 5G compatible smartphone. At the time of writing, no iPhone model available on the market is equipped with 5G technology. The upcoming iPhone 12 lineup will be the first iPhone generation that supports 5G.
Fact: Current 5G compatible devices are the Samsung Galaxy S20 or the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.

2. 5G Plan

You need an Extra or Elite AT&T plan. At the moment these are the only plans that provide 5G access.
Fact: This will change starting with August 7. AT&T has announced that 5G will be also available on the Unlimited Starter wireless plan. The cost will be $35/month for four lines.

3. 5G Coverage

3. Last but not least you need AT&T 5G coverage in your area. Although the company advertises for nationwide coverage, there are still plenty of limitations in the rural areas.
If you check the nearby AT&T coverage map you can notice that there is a 5G prominence on the Eastern coast and central America, while the West par of the US is lacking even in 3G signal.
Tip: For more detailed info about 5G availability, refer to the AT&T website.

Are you getting AT&T 5G coverage in your region? Please use the comments section available below and let us know. Do mention your approximate location so that we can check if the coverage map embedded above is matching real-life conditions.

Important: Please be aware that the AT&T ‘5GE’ icon isn’t actual 5G connectivity. It’s the abbreviation from ‘5G Evolution’ which is actually providing LTE-like browsing speeds!

Related: The iPhone 12 will be first Apple smartphone to support 5G. It could also be the first model that starts with a 128 GB base storage configuration!