If you had to guess where AT&T will launch mobile 5G in 2018 and 2019, you would do worse than to guess it will be the locations where AT&T already has been readying its 5G Evolution network.
The 5G Evolution network essentially is a pre-5G network using LTE-Advanced techniques, carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM, but compatible with the expected full 5G standard.
Among the roughly 24 U.S. cities where 5G Evolution is expected to be available are Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Buffalo, New York; Chicago; Fresno; Greenville, South Carolina; Hartford, Connecticut; Houston; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Louisville; Memphis; Minneapolis, Minn.; Nashville; New Orleans; Oklahoma City; Pittsburgh; San Antonio; San Diego; San Francisco; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Sacramento, Calif.
In the meantime, some like to criticize AT&T for selling “fake 5G.” Some of us would argue that is precisely the wrong conclusion to draw. The 5G Evolution network will allow customers with 4G phones (since there are no 5G phones yet) to experience what standards-based 5G will be like, using their existing devices.
Also, 5G Evolution allows AT&T to drive current revenue off an infrastructure that will not be ready for standards-based 5G, with limited handset availability, for some time until 2020.
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