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AT&T touts impressive new 5G achievements, claims 'largest wireless network' in the US

By Adrian Diaconescu

Published: Mar 23, 2023, 4:10 AM

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AT&T touts impressive new 5G achievements, claims 'largest wireless network' in the US

After slipping from second to third place in the hierarchy of US wireless service providers based on subscriber numbers on the heels of T-Mobile's mega-merger with Sprint back in 2020, AT&T entered an era of largely discreet advertising and... great promotions.

Ma Bell seems to be generally avoiding to splash the cash these days on the kind of massive publicity campaigns the competition is running pretty much all the time, focusing instead on keeping monthly plan rates as low as possible and making it easy for new and existing customers to get the devices they want without overspending.

At the same time, the carrier has been (discreetly) working hard on improving and expanding its network to the level of its rivals, going on the offensive today to claim a nation-leading position... that Verizon may take issue with and also share a couple of 5G-specific achievements.

Who has the best wireless network in America?

Because "best" is obviously a highly subjective assessment for such a complex topic, AT&T is primarily focusing on claiming the "largest wireless network in America" label today... while also touting the "best global coverage of any US wireless provider."

With the latter title being pretty much impossible to independently and objectively verify, we're left comparing AT&T's colossal new coverage claim of "more than 2.91 million square miles" with what's currently available on Verizon's website.

Big Red's 4G LTE signal is apparently "only" accessible across "more than" 2.68 million square miles right now, which seems to confirm AT&T is indeed the nation's leader in this particular department.

What's certainly interesting to note is that AT&T doesn't expand its latest claim to also talk about how many people are (theoretically) covered by its nation-leading network, with Verizon focusing primarily on that number, which is 327 million, or "over" 99 percent of the US population.

As such, we wouldn't be surprised to see both carriers insist they have the "largest wireless network in America" at the same time.

What about AT&T's 5G signal?

Unfortunately for the US wireless industry, the discussion above does not apply to the state of 5G, which remains... complicated. The most important stat shared by AT&T today regarding its 5G network is "more than 150 million", which is the number of people that can currently take advantage of the operator's mid-band 5G spectrum.

In comparison, T-Mobile's mid-band "Ultra Capacity" 5G signal is (theoretically) available to no less than 260 million people across the nation, which obviously dwarfs AT&T's latest milestone in this field.

Then again, Ma Bell got off to a much later and slower start than Magenta in the mid-band 5G development and expansion sector, managing to recover a lot of lost ground over the last year or so. In fact, this 150 million+ number is apparently more than double the carrier's original goal for the end of 2022, which is clearly remarkable.

AT&T is also proud to say that its 5G network as a whole reaches 290 million people in "nearly" 24,000 cities and towns across the US, which is naturally a big number... although still not as big as the 323 million people covered by T-Mobile's low-band "Extended Range" 5G signal.

As a reminder, AT&T's 5G network is composed of three big components, with low-band technology providing the broadest (but also slowest) type of "modern" cellular connectivity, mid-band spectrum striking the best balance between speed and availability, and mmWave delivering super-fast "5G+" coverage in select sports venues and airports in the US, which AT&T has also doubled the number of in 2022.

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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.