AT&T rolls out 5G (for real) to its first 10 US cities

AT&T has kicked its 5G service in the US off with coverage in 10 cities. They are Birmingham (Alabama); Indianapolis; Milwaukee; Pittsburgh; Providence (Rhode Island); Rochester (New York); Los Angeles; San Diego; San Francisco and San Jose (California). Users can now access sub-6GHz (or "low-band") and mmWave ("high-band") service from this carrier, as opposed to its "5G Evolution" release from earlier this year, which turned out to be no more than another type of 4G/LTE.

AT&T has overtly divided its next-gen network into low- and high-band categories, called "5G" and "5G+" respectively, so that potential customers may be aware of the differences in speed they can expect compared to LTE. The former, therefore, is touted as "ideal for mobile customers who need performance while on the go", whereas the latter "offers extra speed and capacity" and "is currently available for businesses and collaborators who are exploring new ways to unlock the significant performance capabilities of 5G+".

To date, AT&T offers 1 mobile device that is compatible with its new bands: the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G. It is not clear if it supports both "5G" and "5G+"; however, it is much more certain that it runs on the Snapdragon 855+ SoC with the X55 modem. This chipset would require its new mmWave antenna to use the 2 services, which is not present on the T-Mobile version of this phablet. Additionally, the AT&T variant has a 512GB storage option, whereas that of the other carrier only has 256GB.

The AT&T Galaxy Note 10+ 5G starts at US$1299 outright, or at $43.34 with the carrier's instalment plan. Needless to say, a customer will need to factor a new and possibly pricy new plan to unlock the full potential of their shiny new phablet.