AT&T is about to brand much of its existing cellular network as “5G Evolution” or “5G E.” Your phone’s “4G” logo may transform to a “5G E” logo after an update, but nothing has actually changed.
Update: When real 5G launches, AT&T will call it”5G+“. That’s truly absurd.
The Results Are In: AT&T’s 5G E Is Bad
Since this piece was published at the end of December 2018, AT&T has gone ahead and rolled out its rebranded network. Just as we predicted, 5G E is not good. A study by OpenSignal published on March 22, 2019 found that AT&T’s 5G E was actually slower than the 4G LTE service from Verizon and T-Mobile, although it’s pretty close.
Twitter is now full of tweets showing 5G E running at slower speeds than competing 4G LTE networks in the real world, too. That’s because it’s not real 5G. At best, it’s just the same 4G LTE other carriers are offering.
Dear AT&T: Updating people’s status bars to say “5GE” is bad and you know it’s bad.
Not only is it just regular LTE… but long term, results like this will diminish what regular people thing 5G actually is. pic.twitter.com/eumqzUZaxK
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) April 2, 2019
What Exactly Is 5G Evolution?
AT&T originally announced “5G Evolution” back in 2017. It’s not a technical standard, and it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just branding for marketing AT&T’s existing 4G network.
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