Turns out AT&T’s 5G E is just LTE-A after all

Network measurer OpenSignal has had a look at the performance subscribers are getting from AT&T’s whizzy new 5G Evolution service and it’s nothing special.

Scott Bicheno

March 22, 2019

1 Min Read
Turns out AT&T’s 5G E is just LTE-A after all

Network measurer OpenSignal has had a look at the performance subscribers are getting from AT&T’s whizzy new 5G Evolution service and it’s nothing special.

“Analyzing Opensignal’s data shows that AT&T users with 5G E-capable smartphones receive a better experience than AT&T users with less capable smartphone models, for example those with an LTE Category below 16,” wrote OpenSignal Analyst Ian Fogg. “But AT&T users with a 5G E-capable smartphone receive similar speeds to users on other carriers with the same smartphone models that AT&T calls 5G E. The 5G E speeds which AT&T users experience are very much typical 4G speeds and not the step-change improvement which 5G promises.”

In other words there’s nothing special going on. If you’ve got a phone that supports LTE-Advanced you’re going to get around 29 Mbps download speed regardless of whether your operator cheekily rebrands it on your phone screen. Unless you’re on Sprint, however, which has a best effort of around 20 Mbps (see table).

Opensignal-5GE-table.jpg

AT&T was universally mocked when its bright idea of rebranding LTE-A at 5G E first emerged. Sprint, of all companies, even decided to call the lawyers in to challenge the claimed deception, but AT&T continues to insist it was a great idea. Its marketing department presumably won’t be thanking OpenSignal for this latest revelation, but what did they expect?

About the Author

Scott Bicheno

As the Editorial Director of Telecoms.com, Scott oversees all editorial activity on the site and also manages the Telecoms.com Intelligence arm, which focuses on analysis and bespoke content.
Scott has been covering the mobile phone and broader technology industries for over ten years. Prior to Telecoms.com Scott was the primary smartphone specialist at industry analyst Strategy Analytics’. Before that Scott was a technology journalist, covering the PC and telecoms sectors from a business perspective.
Follow him @scottbicheno

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