AT&T to run field trials of 5G wireless in Austin this year

AT&T to run field trials of 5G wireless in Austin this year

AT&T announced today it will begin field trials of faster 5G wireless technology this summer in Austin, Texas.

The 3GPP industry standard for 5G, also known as Fifth Generation wireless, is not expected to be completed until 2020, with the earliest phase completed in 2018.Wireless speeds with 5G could be 10 to 100 times faster than with 4G LTE, which generally averages in the 10 Mbps to 20 Mbps range for users downloading data.Both AT&T and Verizon have ambitious 5G rollout plans. AT&T estimates that its wireless network grew 1500,000% from 2007 to 2015, largely because of video traffic.

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Self-driving cars, robots, smart cities and other technologies are expected to test networks like never before, and "5G will will help make them a reality," said John Donovan, chief strategy officer at AT&T Technology and Operations.

AT&T said it is working with Ericsson and Intel on laboratory tests of 5G in the second quarter, with the outdoor tests and trials starting in the summer. By the end of the year, AT&T expects to make 5G connections to fixed locations, such as buildings and homes, while wireless connections to moving objects, like cars and devices used by passengers aboard trains, are harder to achieve.

So, we can expect 5G to hit the market very quick. With 10 to 100 times faster than with 4G LTE it is pretty awesome.