It's been a few months since we've heard anything about AT&T's 5G Evolution rollout, but today the carrier broke its silence with a new update.
AT&T plans to launch 5G Evolution in Minneapolis in time for Super Bowl LII, which is happening February 4, 2018. The service will go live in parts of Minneapolis, including areas around U.S. Bank Stadium where the game will be played.
AT&T's 5G Evolution service isn't true 5G, but it does utilize LTE technologies to provide faster speeds for compatible devices. Specifically, it uses 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM, and 3-way carrier aggregation.
The devices that support 5G Evolution include the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Samsung Galaxy S8 Active, LG V30, and Moto Z2 Force Edition.
AT&T also said today that it's upgrading the Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at U.S. Bank Stadium, loading it up with more than 800 antennas and boosting LTE capacity by more than 150 percent compared to last year. To give you an idea of what the network in the stadium is like, AT&T says that it could provide coverage to the entire city of Minneapolis.