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The 5G network is now available in the US, and all three major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile) provide 5G services. But, unlike other networks, AT&T’s 5G is more than just faster speeds. There are several aspects to consider, such as the cost of their new 5G plans, the meaning of 5G+, and more. In this article, we will try to cover all of these aspects and answer any questions you may have about AT&T’s 5G network.

When did AT&T first launch 5G?

With AT&T, 5G is a bit more complicated and confusing than it needs to be. This is because it decided to rebrand its 4G LTE network as 5Ge on a lot of devices. Giving older devices supposedly 5G service, without actually having it connect to a 5G network. It’s confusing because a lot of the speed tests showed that 5Ge was actually slower than 4G LTE a lot of the time. That was even more confusing since it was the same network.

AT&T has mostly dropped the use of 5Ge, though there are still some older phones that will show it, instead of 4G LTE. This is because many threatened to sue AT&T over the false advertising, including Sprint, which is now defunct, as T-Mobile purchased them recently.

The first true launch of 5G on AT&T was in early 2020. However, it was not available on many of its plans or in many areas until August 2020. That was because the company was still building out its network. In August of 2020, AT&T made 5G available nationwide on its Sub-6 network. The opposite of how Verizon is doing it.

What cities have AT&T 5G?

For the most part, anywhere that has AT&T coverage, will have 5G available from AT&T. However, it may not be the fastest 5G service that AT&T offers. Much like Verizon and T-Mobile, AT&T also has three layers of 5G. There is Sub-6 5G which is basically the same speeds and coverage as 4G LTE, it might be a tad faster in some areas, however. Then there’s C-Band which is more like mid-band was for LTE. This is shown as “5G+” in your status bar. With C-Band coverage, you can expect to get a couple hundred megabit download speeds. Then there’s mmWave. This is where you’ll see the incredibly fast 5G speeds, we’re talking gigabits here and not megabits.

AT&T C-Band

Beginning on January 19, 2022, AT&T started rolling out C-Band spectrum for its 5G Network. It’s bundled under the 5G+ branding. So when you see 5G+ it could be mmWave or C-Band.

It has started out by rolling it out in 8 cities:

Dallas/Fort Worth
Houston
Austin
Chicago
Detroit
Jacksonville
Orlando
Miami

As of 2024, AT&T’s C-Band network now covers over 220 million Americans. Which is enough to cover more than two thirds of the country. You can check out AT&T’s coverage map for more details.

AT&T mmWave

AT&T has been steadily rolling out mmWave, but because of its cost and how easily it is to lose coverage, it is not being rolled out everywhere. Instead, it is being rolled out in very dense areas. Think of large malls, stadiums, and downtown areas. Currently, AT&T has rolled out mmWave to over 50 cities, including the following:

Arizona
- Phoenix
California
- Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, West Hollywood
Colorado
- Denver
Florida
- Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tampa
Georgia
- Atlanta
Indiana
- Indianapolis
Illinois
- Chicago
Kentucky
- Louisville
Louisiana
- New Orleans
Maryland
- Baltimore, Ocean City
Massachusetts
- Boston
Michigan
- Detroit
Minnesota
- Minneapolis
North Carolina
- Charlotte, Raleigh
Nevada
- Las Vegas
New York
- Brooklyn, New York City
Ohio
- Cleveland
Oklahoma
- Oklahoma City
Pennsylvania
- King of Prussia, Philadelphia
Tennessee
- Nashville
Texas
- Austin, Dallas, Frisco, Houston, San Antonio, Waco
Wisconsin
- Milwaukee

When will my area get coverage?

If your area does not have 5G coverage from AT&T yet, you might not be getting any, anytime soon. AT&T has rolled out at least some 5G to basically every place it already had 4G LTE service. As AT&T starts to refarm more spectrum from older generations of mobile internet, that could change. As they are starting to refarm 3G bands right now, for 5G.

Can I use AT&T 5G as my Home Internet?

AT&T has started to offer AT&T Internet Air, which is basically home internet based on its 5G wireless network. It is $60 per month, though if you have an unlimited wireless plan, you can save 20% and make it just $47. AT&T promises that there is no price increase after 12 months, and there’s $0 self-setup. All you need to do is plug in your AT&T All-Fi Hub and you’ll be connected in minutes.

Originally, AT&T wasn’t planning to offer 5G home internet, but after seeing the success of both T-Mobile and Verizon doing it, they decided to jump in too. Keep in mind with AT&T Internet Air that you are using its mobile network, which means speeds can vary quite widely during the day and with different weather scenarios.

What phones work with AT&T 5G?

Almost every phone on AT&T’s website, right now, supports 5G. Most of its newer phones do support C-Band and mmWave, essentially anything released after 2022.

Here are a few good options for 5G phones on AT&T. These all support Sub-6, C-Band, and mmWave:

There are many more 5G phones available that are unlocked and will work on AT&T’s network too. Make sure that they are certified by AT&T though. Otherwise, they may not connect to AT&T’s 5G network.

What plans work with AT&T 5G?

All of the unlimited plans at AT&T offer 5G connectivity. The majority of them include 5G access, while some of the cheaper plans will charge you extra for 5G access. This isn’t anything new, this also happened with 4G nearly a decade ago. Many carriers, like Sprint, charge you $10 per month to access its 4G network – even if it isn’t in your area.

There’s the AT&T Unlimited Starter SL plan. This costs $65.99 for one line, or if you have a family plan, as little as $35.99 per month, per line. This plan gives you unlimited talk, text, and data, including in Canada and Mexico. Video streaming is limited to 480p, however.

Next is the AT&T Unlimited Extra. This will cost you $75.99 per month for a single line, or as little as $40.99 per line on a family plan. You’ll get everything that the Starter Plan has to offer, as well as 50GB of so-called “Premium Data” This basically means you won’t be throttled until you hit that 50GB threshold per month. There’s also 15GB of 5G hotspot data available, per line with this plan.

Then there is Unlimited Elite. This plan will cost you $85.99 per month for a single line, or $50.99 on a family plan. In addition to everything on the Starter Plan, you get 100GB of Premium Data, as well as video streaming in 720p quality. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be 1080p or 4K, but 720p isn’t bad either. You also get 30GB of 5G hotspot data, and HBO MAX is included in the price. That’s a $15 value.

On most of AT&T’s non-unlimited plans, you won’t get access to 5G. Which is unfortunate, but it’s better to move up to unlimited anyways. So you won’t have to worry about going over.

Is AT&T using Sub-6 or mmWave?

AT&T is using both Sub-6 and mmWave for it’s 5G network. However it did start out with Sub-6 for its 5G network, unlike Verizon. Verizon decided to start with mmWave so it could showcase the incredible speeds that 5G can provide. But the downside is, coverage is really bad. AT&T decided to prioritize coverage first, and that was probably the right move here.

With Sub-6, you’re going to get some pretty good speeds from AT&T. They should be similar, or maybe a bit faster than its existing 4G LTE network. But you’ll actually get 5G access inside. Which is not the case for mmWave.

AT&T has started to build out its mmWave network, so you will find some markets that have much faster speeds than others. Thanks to mmWave, which is being marketed as 5G+.

In February 2021, AT&T spent $23.4 billion at a spectrum auction to purchase 3.7GHz that will be used in its 5G network. That will serve as a good middle layer for its 5G network. It won’t be quite as fast as mmWave, and won’t have quite the coverage as Sub-6 (even though it is technically Sub-6, but AT&T is using 850MHz for Sub-6). Giving it a ton of capacity that can be added to its network. This is going to be great when everyone starts jumping on its 5G network. As it likely won’t suffer the same issues it currently has on 4G, where it is just entirely too slow. Because of the congestion. But only time will tell.

What is the difference between AT&T 5G and 5G+?

AT&T, like the other carriers, markets different levels of 5G differently. As mentioned earlier, AT&T is using Sub-6, C-Band, and mmWave for 5G on its network. Sub-6 5G is your basic 5G, it provides more coverage but slower speeds. That is marketed as just plain “5G”.

With “5G+”, AT&T is using that term for anything that is C-Band or mmWave. It is basically signaling to you, the customer, that you can expect much faster speeds on 5G+ versus just 5G. And that’s true, with C-Band, we’ve seen speeds of around 200-300Mbps versus around 50Mbps on Sub-6. While mmWave has achieved speeds of up to 2Gbps in the real-world.

Why do we need 5G?

5G is the next evolution of mobile networks. And while many will say that it is overkill, and that we don’t need gigabit speeds on our smartphones, we actually do.

If you’re old enough to remember, the same thing was said about 4G LTE. Why do we need these speeds when my phone is already fast enough? Now look at it. Those early LTE speeds of around 30-50Mbps are pretty much non-existent. As LTE is now closer to 100Mbps or more.

Our world is changing, and in a few years, 5G is going to feel slow. And yeah, that sounds weird to say, given that we’re seeing 1-2Gbps on 5G on some carriers. But as internet speeds get faster, websites get heavier, apps also get larger, and so do video files. Imagine being able to download a season of a Netflix Original in just a few seconds? 5G is going to allow that, among many other things.

So, today, 5G might seem like overkill. But by 2025, we’ll be back to complaining that it isn’t fast enough. 5G is going to enable us to do virtual reality in real time instead of needing to have it downloaded to use offline. It’ll also allow for autonomous vehicles to get information from the cloud. This is thanks to the much lower latency of 5G. And that’s really just the start of what 5G will enable for us.

Is AT&T 5G safe?

Yes, AT&T’s 5G network is safe. You really shouldn’t worry about any 5G network causing any harm to your health. Sub-6 5G has been around for over a decade before 5G started to roll out – as it is essentially 4G LTE. While C-Band and mmWave are much weaker for penetrating buildings.

AT&T also complies with all safety standards, including those set by the FCC for limits on radiofrequency emissions.

Is it worth it to upgrade to a 5G phone on AT&T?

Our conclusion on AT&T 5G in early 2021 is that it’s available, but we wouldn’t recommend upgrading your solely so you can use its 5G network. If you need a new phone, it’s very likely that it’ll be a 5G phone, and in that case, fine. Because you don’t really have much of a choice, but don’t upgrade to a 5G phone just because it has 5G. Upgrade for other reasons.

AT&T’s 5G network is getting pretty good and covering a large chunk of the US, but it is still not nationwide. Even though AT&T likes to claim that it actually is, that will change in the coming years, though. AT&T is working pretty hard at rolling out 5G across the country already, and we expect that to continue for quite some time.