AT&T 5G Roll Out: $500 One-Off plus $70/month for 15 GB

So you want to get some of that super fast, super low latency 5G goodness? AT&T has just announced pricing for their upcoming services to several US cities, and it doesn’t look too great.

The crux of the deal starts with a $500 one-off fee for a Netgear Wireless Hotspot, which is the one we saw at the Qualcomm Tech Summit a couple of weeks ago. This device converts a 5G signal into an 802.11ac/802.11ax wireless hotspot, or can be tethered through a USB 3.1 5 Gbps connection. Inside is a battery, as well as a Snapdragon 855 SoC and X50 modem that will convert the 5G signal. In speaking with the mobile hotspot providers, they expect ‘a full day battery’ with their devices, but Netgear declined to say how big the battery was or hard numbers.

The Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot

On top of the $500 fee is the data plan. To start, AT&T will offer a $70/month data plan for 15 GB (with no annual committment). So despite the promise of 5G being fast, that data cap is going to go quick for anyone that wants to download a few movies. One of the use cases given to us for 5G at the Tech Summit was the ability to pull down a few seasons of a favorite show on Netflix while boarding a plane. If that’s the case, it might only be valid once or twice in a month.

To start, AT&T will only offer the 5G network to select businesses and customers for the first 3 months, before offering it to all customers in the Spring. Initially the service will be available in the following cities:

• Atlanta
• Charlotte, NC
• Dallas
• Houston
• Indianapolis
• Jacksonville, Fla
• Louisville, KY
• Oklahoma City
• New Orleans
• Raleigh, NC
• San Antonio
• Waco, TX

The following cities will be enabled through the first half of 2019:

• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• Nashville
• Orlando
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• San Jose, CA

The initial offering will make 5G available as a hotspot service only, meaning that users will have to purchase a compatible 5G mobile hotspot for it to work (and only Netgear makes ones that will work with AT&T so far).

No word was given as to the speed of AT&T’s 5G network, however it will be part of its 39 GHz mmWave spectrum. To differentiate between 5G on mmWave and 5G on sub-6 GHz bands, AT&T is using the ‘5G+’ branding for its mmWave technology.  This is going to be a fun exercise in branding.

Source: AT&T

At AT&T's 5G Demos at the Qualcomm Tech Summit, Dec 2018

Related Reading

• 5G Mobile Hotspots: Netgear for AT&T and inseego for Verizon
• The Verizon and AT&T 5G Setups at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit
• A Quick Look at Qualcomm’s 5G Smartphone Reference Design
• Qualcomm Tech Summit, Day 1: Announcing 5G Partnerships