AT&T To Begin Upgrading Existing LTE Phones To '5G E'

December 22, 2018

AT&T confirmed to FierceWireless that it will soon begin changing the “LTE” indicator on some of its current Android phones to “5G E” in markets where the company now offers 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM and other advanced LTE network technologies.

“If they have one of the latest Android devices and it connects to a tower that’s enabled with 5G Evolution, they’ll soon see a “5G E” indicator pop up on their screen,” an AT&T spokesperson wrote in response to questions from FierceWireless. “Initially we’ll roll this out on a handful of devices, with more devices showing the indicator in spring 2019.”

The operator didn’t immediately respond to questions about the total number of devices that would be affected by the change. However, potentially millions of existing LTE smartphone owners could eventually see their AT&T network status icon change from “LTE” to “5G E.” AT&T said its “5G Evolution” service will be commercially available in more than 400 markets by the end of this year.

Read more at FierceWireless

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