After years of 5G hype and investment, Wednesday’s network launch makes it real

CNBC January 19, 2022
Kif Leswing

Key Points

– Verizon and AT&T turned on a major new part of their 5G networks Wednesday.

– The networks use wavelengths called C-band to cover a large part of the country with wireless service that should be noticeably faster than current 4G service.

– People with compatible phones could see the network symbol at the top of their smartphone screen change Wednesday and access peak download speeds 10 times faster than an LTE network.

Verizon and AT&T turned on a major new part of their 5G networks Wednesday, the culmination of a yearslong process that saw both carriers invest billions in spectrum and equipment to upgrade their networks.

The networks that lit up on Wednesday are using wavelengths called...

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