AT&T’s 5G Evolution tech has reached 117 new markets as the carrier looks to continue expanding on its efforts to push forward with the updated network technology to improve service performance and reliability for its customers. For subscribers of the nation’s second-largest wireless network this could be a potentially huge deal, as the carrier boasts that the 5G Evolution technology makes it possible to reach theoretical peak speeds of up to 400 megabits per second. The thing to pay attention to, though, is the word theoretical. While the technology may be theoretically capable of reaching these download speeds, that doesn’t necessarily mean that customers will see these speeds on their own devices as there are numerous factors to take into account.
The first thing to note is that subscribers will need a “capable device” for this to be possible, and while AT&T does mention which devices can actually achieve these speeds for download there are not that many of them at the moment and all of them are flagships. That being said many AT&T subscribers may not get these speeds or anywhere close to them. Once AT&T starts rolling out more devices that are capable, and more subscribers begin to adopt those devices, then it’s likely that more of these speeds will be visible to subscribers.
Right now there are only a handful of smartphones which support this technology and this includes the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, the Galaxy Note 8, the Galaxy S8 Active, the LG V30, and the Moto Z2 Force Edition. More devices will eventually be added and it’s likely that, if AT&T picks up LG’s new Vs series device this year that it will be included as well, as should the new Note series device from Samsung, though confirmation on that likely won’t be public until those devices are announced and AT&T confirms whether or not it will be selling those phones.