AT&T said its mobile 5G service – on a hotspot — is now live in parts of 7 more cities, including Austin, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose.
AT&T’s mobile 5G service on a hotspot has reached 19 cities across the US. AT&T said it is the only mobile carrier to offer mobile 5G service to businesses and consumers, well ahead of its competitors such as Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.
AT&T has the fastest network in the US, according to Ookla. AT&T made an investment of nearly $145 billion in its network in the past five years.
AT&T CFO John Stephens earlier said the mobile operator has developed some use cases for 5G technology, such as connected factories, but does not expect 5G-enabled handsets to hit the market until late 2019 or 2020.
AT&T, the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier, kicked off its mobile 5G launch in December 2018 by adding NETGEAR Nighthawk 5G mobile hotspot to business and consumers. AT&T is yet to launch 5G on a smartphone to its customers.
“By early 2020 we’ll have the best combination of mobile 5G – providing both the higher speeds available over mmWave spectrum and nationwide coverage available “over sub-6” spectrum,” Andre Fuetsch, president AT&T Labs and chief technology officer, said in a statement.
Mike Ballerino, director of Construction at HCS, said the 5G hotspot is a great way for the company to transfer big files, particularly on site. HCS uses two 5G mobile hotspots to move workflows smoothly.
Erik Schlegel, director of Technology at RATIO Architects, said the company uses the 5G hotspot to take collaboration a step further with faster network connectivity.
AT&T said it plans to offer at least three 5G mobile devices this year. AT&T is also on track to offer the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone this spring.
AT&T will also launch another Samsung 5G smartphone that will enable customers to access both mmWave and sub-6 spectrum.
