AT&T is expanding its use of 5G for home internet by offering fixed wireless in 16 new markets for $55 per month. Called “Internet Air,” the markets include “areas of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon, Pa.; Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Phoenix (Prescott, Ariz.), Chicago, Detroit, Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Mich.; Hartford-New Haven, Conn.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Seattle-Tacoma and Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), Fla.
In a blog post, Erin Scarborough, president of AT&T’s broadband and connectivity initiatives, said the carrier determined its 5G home broadband locations by looking for areas in its network that had enough wireless coverage and capacity to deliver a great in-home experience and maintain a “top-notch” wireless service.
According to AT&T, customers who have the company’s wireless service and who sign up for automatic payments will be able to lower their bill to $35 per month.
Customers with larger homes can get Wi-Fi extenders that connect to the router for an additional $10 per month, per extender (with a max of five extenders). Users can also connect their existing Wi-Fi routers to the AT&T device’s Ethernet port.
AT&T says its app can guide users on extender placement and that it will be able to send notifications to let users know that moving the router or extender could be useful to optimize the network.
While 5G hasn’t lived up to its significant hype in some areas, it has delivered needed competition for consumers in home broadband as wireless carriers looked to compete with big cable companies
