Atlanta To Get Super-Fast 5G From AT&T In 2018

ATLANTA, GA — Mobile users on the AT&T platform will get the chance to experience the company's newest, fastest connections in Atlanta this year. The company announced Wednesday that Atlanta will be one of a dozen cities where it will offer 5G LTE connectivity in 2018 as it begins to roll out the service nationwide.

The company said the service will roll out in parts of Dallas, Atlanta and Waco, Texas, by the end of the year, with additional cities to be announced in the coming months. AT&T says it will be adding more 5G-capable mobile devices, including smartphones, starting in early 2019.

"After significantly contributing to the first phase of 5G standards, conducting multi-city trials, and literally transforming our network for the future, we’re planning to be the first carrier to deliver standards-based mobile 5G – and do it much sooner than most people thought possible," said Igal Elbaz, senior vice president, Wireless Network Architecture and Design. "Our mobile 5G firsts will put our customers in the middle of it all."

According to AT&T, the 5G system will be capable of reaching "theoretical" peak speeds of multiple gigabits per second. It also will reduce latency rates — the amount of time it takes data to travel from one point to another — according to AT&T.

"With higher speeds and lower latency rates, our mobile 5G network will eventually unlock a number of new, exciting experiences for our customers," the company said in a news release.

That would be considerably faster than current 4G networks and would theoretically make data-intensive tasks, like streaming video, smoother and quicker. AT&T says that the way it is implementing 5G this year will seamlessly integrate with current LTE technologies being used.

To read AT&T's full announcement about plans to test 5G mobile networks, click here.

In this Monday, Oct. 24, 2016, file photo, the AT&T logo is positioned above one of its retail stores in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)