AT&T has been upgrading their LTE network, and in an arguably misleading move, AT&T will begin showing “5G E” on LTE phones in areas that use the upgraded LTE services. This service is NOT true 5G service – it is a faster, upgraded 4G LTE service – but AT&T is calling it “5G Evolution.”
“If they have one of the latest Android devices and it connects to a tower that’s enabled with 5G Evolution, they’ll soon see a “5G E” indicator pop up on their screen,” an AT&T spokesperson wrote in response to questions from FierceWireless. “Initially we’ll roll this out on a handful of devices, with more devices showing the indicator in spring 2019.”
While the service is faster than LTE, it is not 5G and this could be very confusing for customers.
