AT&T Unveils 5G Roadmap In 2016

AT&T is planning to test super speedy 5G technologies by the end of the year in homes and offices in Austin.

AT&T just announced today its first round of 5G wireless technology testing, which will begin this summer in Austin. AT&T says it will offer compliant commercial deployments of 5G once standards are set. AT&T is saying anywhere between 10x and 100x faster than the average LTE speeds you see today, and though real-world performance of course won’t match the possibilities on paper, we’re still talking about gigabits per second, not megabits. Verizon, which plans to start its 5G trials this year, expects that 5G will be introduced in the USA by 2020. When it finally makes its way to the market and devices start connecting to it, customers will see up to 100 times the internet connection speeds they’re now getting on a wireless network. Details on 5G’s full rollout are still sparse. Verizon started its first 5G tests two months ago and AT&T will likely begin its tests in a few months.

And now as we move into the age of virtual reality and devices more performant than ever before, the network technology needs to follow suit as specialists expect a large increase in network traffic once again.

According to AT&T, over 60 percent of the data traffic on its network in 2015 was video and the firm predicts 4K video, Internet of Things and virtual reality to drive additional traffic growth. But this year’s tests will help in the development of those standards. However, some carriers are aggressively pushing for 5G-like speeds by next year. One example is that AT&T has partnered up with Ericsson and Intel to help test 5G network technology. In all likelihood, however, the standard probably will not become available to wide global audiences until the second half of 2019 or early 2020. In the meantime, AT&T is leading the charge to the next generation of the network with 5G and we’re doing it more efficiently than anyone else.

“Technologies such as millimeter waves, network function virtualization (NFV), and software-defined networking (SDN) will be among the key ingredients for future 5G experiences”. With more and more people using LTE, we’re seeing slower speeds, seeing as there’s not enough bandwidth in many areas for these carriers to use. Verizon had already announced it’s working with Ericsson, Qualcomm, Cisco Systems, and others on 5G technology, which is an indicator that it could already focused on tackling the issue.