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Daily News Roundup: AT&T Says 5G’s Pricing Structure Will Be Similar to Home Internet

Author: Cameron Summerson / Source: How-To Geek

Right now, when you pay for a cellular plan, you typically get what you get when it comes to speed. AT&T says that 5G is going to change that, allowing users to pay more for faster speeds.

This sort of structure isn’t outside of anything we’re used to—that’s exactly how it has worked for home broadband for years.

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If you can handle 50 Mbps down, then you can save money. But if you want 200 Mbps or more, then you can shell out the funds to pay for that. It’s the way of the world.

But generally speaking, mobile speeds are the same no matter what. There are some exceptions here and there—like Cricket’s 3 Mbps unlimited plan, which costs less than the company’s 8 Mbps unlimited plan—but most carriers just let you get the maximum speed all the time.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, however, said during yesterday’s earnings call that he expects 5G pricing to “look something like the pricing regime you see in fixed line,” noting that customers “are willing to pay a premium for 500Mbps to 1Gbps speed and so forth.” It’s also expected that 5G service is going to cost more than the current 4G prices, though Stephenson didn’t touch on that during the call.

It’s also unclear whether or not AT&T (or any other provider, for that matter) will offer 5G speeds with unlimited mobile packages. I speculate that, at least initially, these will be capped—though it’s hard to say what these caps will look like. If they end up sticking with the current 2 GB/5 GB/10 GB plans that are relatively common now, you can expect to blow through that number pretty quickly with the faster speeds 5G is supposed to bring. .

In other news, an Apple Watch survived six months in the sea, Google Fit comes to iOS, Zuck launched a podcast, Spigen offers a look at its Galaxy Fold prototype cases, and more.