All AT&T phones with 5G C-band support and network speed tests against 4G LTE

January 28, 2022, 10:10 a.m.

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All AT&T phones with new 5G C-band support and network tests against 4G LTE

Recently, AT&T scooped up the lion’s share of the FCC’s 5G spectrum auction in C-band frequencies, in addition to a $23 billion fork already amassed earlier. Verizon did not participate in this fall auction, but only because it has already fetched more than $45 billion in previous ones.

As you can see, almost all major Samsung, Apple or Google phones released in 2021, as well as all iPhone 12 models can take advantage of the new AT&T 5G C-Band network, so you are not left without options. .

AT&T 5G C-Band vs 5G low-band vs 4G LTE network speed tests

Verizon’s new coverage map says it covers over 46 metro areas with C-band, AT&T only lists eight and has no maps.
C-band provides the boost AT&T needs. Download speeds at the C-band site were triple our average AT&T speeds in the rest of Chicago.
The 5G low band in Chicago gave us no performance advantage of 4G over the improvements we saw from C-band 5G.
AT&T’s 40 MHz C-band channel is twice as large as the largest possible 4G channel, which makes a real difference in performance. In comparison, Verizon uses 60 MHz C-band channels and T-Mobile uses 100 MHz, non-C band.
AT&T is ready to let Verizon do the C-band headlines for now, as it plans to ramp up its build through the second half of 2022 and into 2023.

While tested speeds were sometimes faster than the rest of AT&T’s network in the Windy City, 5G C-band coverage is still sparse. If you’re lucky enough to live within range of one of Ma Bell’s C-band propagation towers and have one of the phones listed above that supports it, you’ll be delighted.

It should be noted that AT&T’s low-band 5G network, much like T-Mobile’s or Verizon’s low-band 5G networks, did not exhibit faster speeds compared to the carrier’s robust 4G network which was shamefully described with a 5GE (for Evolution) icon on AT&T phones while 5G was still twinkling in the eyes of its engineers. AT&T had regulatory issues over this as a misleading claim, but in fact, its 4G LTE network is indeed “upgraded” over low-band 5G which reaches far but not fast.

here’s how AT&T explains its differences between low, mid and high band 5G networks:

AT&T Low Band 5G is fast and can travel farther than AT&T High Band 5G+ and penetrate through buildings and objects.
AT&T’s 5G+ midband (C-band) bridges the gap between the current two bands by traveling farther than the 5G+ high band and delivering faster speeds than the low band.
Broadband 5G+ (mmWave) offers super-fast speeds, but has limited range and is therefore mainly used in stadiums and high-traffic areas like entertainment districts.

Additionally, AT&T’s peculiar 5G low-band implementation rages on a tiny sliver of 5 MHz spectrum, passing far less data compared to its Wild West of 4G LTE coverage. The new C-Band spectrum deployment even doubles the best 4G LTE streaming in turn, which is why it delivered the download speeds you see in the chart below.