Our AT&T 5G speed test yields the craziest speeds yet

It’s fitting that I tested AT&T’s 5G network at the Warner Bros. studio in Los Angeles. Both Hollywood and 5G aim to take our wildest ideas and make them real. In AT&T’s case, it’s the promise of high speed mobile data over a cellular network, which could revolutionize how we use our phones, computers and connected devices. In the little time I spent testing 5G speeds at the AT&T Shape conference at Warner Bros., I was blown away by how fast they were. They cruised past the speeds we’ve witnessed in similar early 5G tests done with Verizon and Sprint.

AT&T now becomes the third US carrier over the past few months to give us a taste of the power and potential of 5G. After a less than stellar preview in April, Verizon flexed its blazing speed muscles in May around select parts of Chicago on its 5G network. Later that month, Sprint showed off its 5G network in Dallas-Fort Worth, and it proved impressive in terms of its speeds and the size of its coverage — even if Verizon’s demo was faster. AT&T’s approach was to show off a 5G connected campus on the Warner Bros. lot. Imagine a film crew being able to instantly share footage with someone on the other side of the lot.

If you haven’t heard of 5G, it’s the next generation of cellular technology, and it should allow for faster data speeds with incredibly low latency. The new generation of wireless innovation could lead to a slew of uses, both practical, like downloading movies to our phones in seconds or streaming AR/VR games without lag, and hopeful, like being a harbinger for new uses and technologies that have yet to be envisioned.

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