Skip to main content

AT&T quietly enables 4G LTE network in NYC

AT&T LTE
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Late Thursday, AT&T customers in New York City began noticing something strange about their wireless signal: It wasn’t just 3G anymore. That’s because AT&T has quietly begun to roll out its long-awaited 4G LTE network in parts of the Big Apple.

The launch of LTE in New York is not yet official, even if it is real. The company has denied reports that its LTE network has launched in NYC, telling Business Insider that “AT&T has not launched LTE in NYC nor announced it — nothing new to add today.” Still, the company goes on to say that “as we work to turn on more markets, testing will be taking place. It’s possible you may see 4G LTE in markets we have not yet launched which would explain your experience and recent blog chatter.”

Recommended Videos

In other words, LTE has technically launched, but it may simply be for testing purposes, meaning the service may go down at any point. If you have one of AT&T’s LTE-enabled devices, which include the HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S II “Skyrocket,” or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, and you live in New York City, today is the day to check out the new ultra-fast system, in case they decide to power down the system, now that all us pesky tech bloggers have let the cat out of the bag.

How fast, you ask? The Verge is reporting download speeds up to 41Mbps and upload speeds of around 15Mbps — far faster than the 5 or 6Mbps typically allowed on AT&T’s “4G” HSPA+ network.

Andrew Couts
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
T-Mobile still has the fastest 5G, but its rivals are catching up
T-Mobile smartphone.

For most of 2023, we’ve seen median 5G speeds among the big three carriers remain fairly stable, leading us to believe that things were beginning to reach a plateau. However, it now seems that this may only be true at the very top end of the 5G speed race.

Today, Ookla released its latest market research on 5G speeds for the third quarter of 2023, and it’s an interesting mix of surprising and not-so-surprising developments in the 5G market.

Read more
T-Mobile’s huge lead in 5G speeds isn’t going anywhere
OnePlus Nord N300 5G speed test.

It looks like 2023 could shape up to be the year that we reach "peak 5G." While T-Mobile still enjoys a very healthy lead over its rivals, we're no longer seeing significant speed increases from any of the big three U.S. carriers.

That's not surprising for T-Mobile and Verizon since they now cover more than two-thirds of the U.S. population. AT&T still has room to grow, yet it seems to be in a resting phase rather than an expansion one right now.

Read more
The 5G speed race is over and T-Mobile has won
Cell phone tower shooting off pink beams with a 5G logo next to it.

Every few months, a new market analysis comes out comparing the top 5G performance and availability among U.S. carriers. Each time, we wonder if the latest report will finally topple T-Mobile, which has held a commanding lead over rivals AT&T and Verizon for years. Yet, with each new report, T-Mobile pulls farther ahead while AT&T and Verizon are left in the dust.

With that in mind, Opensignal's latest 5G Experience Report doesn't bring too many surprises, at least in broad strokes. T-Mobile continues to deliver 5G download speeds that are more than twice those of any other carrier and more than twice the 5G availability. This means you won't just get faster performance on T-Mobile's 5G network, but you're more likely to be able to find a 5G connection.

Read more