5G coverage coming to Jacksonville Friday

Telecom giant AT&T announced Tuesday that it’s rolling out 5G in a dozen cities this week, and Jacksonville is among them.

“Initially we’ll offer a limited amount of mobile 5G devices to select customers beginning on Friday, Dec. 21,” the company said in a press release. “This initial offer will deliver select business customers and consumers our first mobile 5G device, the NETGEAR Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot, plus mobile 5G data usage at no cost for at least 90 days.”

More information for Bold City businesses and individual consumers is available on AT&T’s website.

5G, or fifth generation, wireless networks will be coming online in select metros over the next year. In addition to Jacksonville, AT&T said its 5G launch will include Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Louisville, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Raleigh, San Antonio and Waco. AT&T has previously tested its next-gen network in a handful of cities, though that was before the industry standards were set for 5G.

AT&T’s chief competitor, Verizon, plans to bring 5G service to Panama City next year and it’s rumored Miami will make the cut as well. The other two major players in wireless data, Sprint and T-Mobile, haven’t announced any plans to bring 5G to a Florida metro.

The new wireless data standard brings what most consumers would expect — faster speeds. At the consumer level, 5G standards require a minimum download speed of 100 Mbps (megabits per second) and upload speed of 50 Mbps. Those speeds are a tenfold increase over the low-end threshold of 4G and rival the offerings of most wired, in-home internet service providers.

At peak, 5G could provide download and upload speeds of up to several gigabits per second. The fastest wired connection offered to consumers by a major ISP is 2 Gbps.

But speed isn’t the only advantage. The advanced standard also promises lower latency which, combined with the bandwidth boost, will provide a firmer foundation for emerging technologies including autonomous vehicles, advanced traffic control and streaming virtual reality experiences.

Similar to the transition to 4G, and 3G before it, the new network standard will require a compatible device — the current kings of the smartphone world don’t have the necessary hardware for 5G, and it may be a couple years before a 5G compatible phone is on the market.