AT&T 5G roll-out detailed: The cities, devices, and downsides
AT&T is talking more about its 5G plans today, announcing that it plans to offer nationwide 5G by the end of the first half of 2020. That's a pretty ambitious goal, and to get the ball rolling, AT&T announced that it will launch low-band 5G service in 15 additional cities by February 2020. On top of all that, the company told us which plans we'll need in order to tap into 5G and announced when pre-orders for its first consumer 5G phone, the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, will open up.
In other words, AT&T is all about 5G on this otherwise innocuous Friday in November. The company confirmed today that 5G service will be available on its Unlimited Extra and Unlimited Elite Plans. 5G will be offered to customers on those plans at no extra cost, which stands in contrast to Verizon's $10 charge for 5G (a charge that's currently waived as the company works on building out 5G).
Unlimited Extra and Unlimited Elite are two of the three new unlimited plans AT&T rolled out earlier this month. AT&T Unlimited Starter, the least of expensive of the three, seemingly doesn't qualify for 5G service, so if you live in a place scheduled to get 5G in the next few months, you might want to consider switching plans.
AT&T says that it will launch low-band 5G in Indianapolis; Pittsburgh; Providence, Rhode Island; Rochester, New York; and San Diego in the coming weeks. That launch will be followed by further low-band roll out in Boston; Las Vegas, Milwaukee; New York City; San Francisco; Birmingham, Alabama; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Buffalo, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; and San Jose, California. You can check out planned coverage maps for all of these areas over on AT&T's website, but remember that they all show expected coverage by February 2020.
We're not sure what AT&T considers to be nationwide coverage, but it'll certainly have its work cut out for it if it wants anything resembling a nationwide network in the first half of next year. The company also says that it will continue to roll out its mmWave 5G+ to business customers, with the goal to have portions of 30 cities lit up with 5G+ early next year.
Finally, AT&T revealed today that it's opening up pre-orders for the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G on November 25th. There's no word on when the phone will officially launch, but a store listing for the device is already live on AT&T's website. The Galaxy Note 10+ 5G costs $43.34 per month on AT&T's installment plan, so if you live in one of the cities listed above and you want to have 5G service as soon as it goes live, prepare to plop down some cash for this phone.