AT&T is pushing 5GE as an interim step toward the 5G standard. However, it’s a lower-bandwidth version of LTE. To make your life easier, it’s possible to turn off 5GE on your phone. To do so, visit the phone’s settings.
AT&T is pushing 5GE as a marketing tool
AT&T has been marketing its LTE-Advanced network as “5GE” for a while now. The “E” stands for evolution from LTE to 5G. The carrier has partnered with device manufacturers to push the “5GE” branding in various places, including on-screen indicators on phones. The strategy has met with a mixed response from the telecom media and industry. Critics have pointed out that 5GE actually refers to an advanced form of LTE, and not the new 5G standard.
AT&T’s 5GE marketing strategy aims to bridge the gap between 4G and 5G. The technology is still in its early stages, but it is expected to reach its full potential by this summer. In the meantime, AT&T is ramping up its 5GE marketing campaign and is hoping to unseat Verizon’s network dominance this year.
The National Advertising Review Board (NARB) has recommended that AT&T stop using the term “5G Evolution” in marketing efforts. The governing body found that the term was misleading and urged the company to stop using it. AT&T argues that the term is a more appropriate name for its upgraded 4G LTE network, which is built on 256-QAM and 4×4 MIMO technology.
While 5G Evolution isn’t technically 5G, AT&T has been misleading consumers about the latest advances in 4G. The carrier is pushing out phones with the 5GE logo and misleading consumers into believing that they’re accessing the next generation network. Although 5G Evolution offers faster connections, the average phone owner can’t expect to make use of the faster speeds.
While the technology behind 5G is still several years away, AT&T is already deploying multiple bands of spectrum on macro towers to improve wireless network capacity. While the real technology is still years away, the company is already boosting its network capacity by adding as much as 60 GHz of spectrum to its towers at a time. This could lead to a significant boost in data speeds.
It’s an interim step towards 5G
Despite all the hype and excitement about 5G, it is unlikely to replace all of our wireless communications in the near future. This technology isn’t ready for autonomous vehicles yet, and connected home devices will probably stay connected via WiFi systems for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, we can expect a transition to 5G for home-related devices that currently use cell technology. Ultimately, the improvements made by 5G will be in the quantity of data that can be transmitted instead of its speed.
5G promises to drastically reduce latency – the lag between a network request and a response. This can revolutionize the way we experience high-speed computing services. For example, lower latency in video conferencing may make the video feeds more responsive and reduce the number of dropped calls. This has not been fully tested for consumer services yet, but these benefits have the potential to transform the way we interact with each other.
5G speeds can range from one hundred megabits per second to a gigabit, depending on where you are and other variables. In general, these speeds are 50 to 100 percent faster than 4G LTE. But as the technology becomes more common and devices improve, this speed will increase. In the future, 5G speeds may reach multi-gigabit download and upload speeds.
5G also defines new authentication-related services. The AUSF and UDM provide these through Nausf_UEAuthentication and Nudm_UEAuthentication. Authentication data is encrypted using public key-based encryption. In 5G, the only person with access to the public key is the SIDF.
5G is a combination of core network technologies and innovative radio technologies. Its primary features are increased spectrum efficiency and distribution outward of core network functions. These innovations are enabled by aggregation of existing spectrum and the allocation of greenfield spectrum. The goal is to provide better network performance to customers.
Currently, the 5G network has only been deployed in certain parts of the country. Nonetheless, the United States has adopted several measures to reduce the risk of 5G interference with aircraft and airport operations. The FAA is continuing to study the potential impacts of 5G and the aviation industry.
It’s a lower-bandwidth version of LTE
The 5GE technology that AT&T is offering for its customers is a less-bandwidth version of LTE. Although the speed of this technology is much slower than that of 5G, it’s still faster than 4G. Its average speed is about 50 Mbps, compared to 1-10Gbps for 5G. Consequently, users can expect much slower download and upload speeds than they would with LTE.
The main difference between 5GE and LTE lies in the speed and capacity. While both technologies offer high-speed data transmission, 5GE is much faster and more reliable. The uplink is slower than LTE, but its spectral efficiency is higher than LTE. Moreover, 5GE’s higher uplink-to-downlink ratio can boost its maximum download speeds. Furthermore, it has lower latency than LTE, which means it can offer better coverage than LTE.
LTE is an upgraded version of 3G and 4G. It is faster than 3G and supports public safety functions, though it falls far short of the 100Mbps of true 4G. The LTE standard allows operators to assign priorities to their customers, so that emergency calls can be given priority.
The 5G service that Verizon offers is called “UWB” (United States Wideband) or “Nationwide 5G.” While T-Mobile offers its service with a lower-bandwidth option, it uses a different name: 5G NR. While 5G NR is more technically advanced than LTE, it still uses the same radio-access technology.
The name 5GE is misleading. There are other 5G symbols that are more useful. While 5GE is a lower-bandwidth version of LTE, it does not represent the “true” version of the network. The 5G low-band network needs to share airwaves with 4G/LTE signals. Because of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, low-band 5G can be faster than 4G/LTE.
LTE is also a self-organizing network. If there is an outage in the network, calls will be automatically routed to another path. As soon as the service returns, the network will revert to its intended path.
It’s a marketing tool
The 5GE icon on AT&T’s smartphones has been a source of controversy. Since it began showing up on some devices in December, T-Mobile and Sprint have called the icon “fake 5G” and sued the wireless carrier over it. The lawsuit was settled out of court, but AT&T has continued to use the icon.
The name “5GE” is simply a marketing tool to draw attention to AT&T’s 5G services. Though the actual 5G technology isn’t out until 2020, the AT&T branding has been a marketing tool to drive sales. The ‘5GE’ icon is displayed in place of “LTE” on iPhones that use AT&T’s network.
The term “5GE” was first used by AT&T in 2018. It claimed that its subscribers could reach speeds of 400 Mbps in cities that had coverage. The company promoted the technology as a natural evolution from previous technologies. It also promised users an easy upgrade from their 4G service to 5G, without having to change phones or pay additional fees.
AT&T has since launched a 5G network in some cities in the US, and the first 5G-enabled iPhones are expected to launch later this year. However, the company said it does not plan to remove the 5GE icon from its phones. However, it says that the NARB recommendation applies only to the service icon and not the advertisement.
The name 5GE has become an irritating marketing tool for AT&T. It is a rebranding of the LTE-Advanced network. The service has been described as a “upgrade” in the past, but in reality, it is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. AT&T claims the speed of 5GE is comparable to that of 4G.
