Rumor is that AT&T customers will be the very first ones to receive a 5G icon in the upper right corners of their screens. A fake logo, mind you, since 5G is not actually a thing just yet.
FierceWireless states that the company did confirm to them the “LTE” indicator on some of the Android phones will change to “5G E” instead. This will happen to the areas that offer the company’s 4×4 MIMO, 256 QAM network, which is basically just a more advanced 4G network.
This 4G network, while more advanced than others, does not, technically, qualify as 5G though.
The “E” in the “5G E” icon is supposed to be a clear indicator that the 5G is not actual 5G, but there’s not a lot of people who will catch on to that and At&T has been accused that it is “duping customers into thinking they are getting something they’re not.”
The real 5G, in reality, will be quite limited for the next year or so and this little stunt might only manage to bring more confusion to what is already a muddled understanding of what the next generation wireless technology actually is.
At&T, at the time this article is being written, has not confirmed or denied the FierceWireless‘ report.
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