Technologies

AT&T Expands 5G Home Internet With New ‘Internet Air’ Offering in 16 Markets

After taking a slower approach than its rivals, AT&T is finally using 5G to compete with home broadband.

AT&T is finally expanding its use of 5G for home internet. On Tuesday, the wireless carrier announced that it is expanding its fixed wireless offering to 16 new markets, offering home broadband over 5G for $55 per month.

Called «Internet Air,» the new markets include «areas of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Phoenix (Prescott), Chicago, Detroit, Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan; Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Seattle-Tacoma and Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), Florida.»

In a blog post, Erin Scarborough, president of AT&T’s broadband and connectivity initiatives, said the carrier determined its 5G home broadband locations by looking for areas in its network that had «enough wireless coverage and capacity to deliver not only a great in-home experience, but also maintain a top-notch wireless service for our existing mobile users.»

Those who also have AT&T wireless service and sign up for automatic payments will be able to lower the bill to $35 per month. Similar to offerings from T-Mobile or Verizon, AT&T’s 5G home internet does not have overage fees, equipment charges or annual contracts. AT&T also says that it won’t increase the price «at 12 months.»

The carrier previously was experimenting with the Internet Air product in parts of Los Angeles and Philadelphia, pitching the product in some locations as an upgrade to its older, DSL home broadband service, particularly in areas where its fiber-based internet isn’t available. The carrier tells CNET that it expects download speeds over 5G to be between 40Mbps and 140Mbps and that upload speeds will be between 5Mbps and 25Mbps. While not as fast as fiber or cable, this would mark a noticeable speed boost from the «generally 6Mbps or lower» speeds it says its DSL users experience.

AT&T says it currently has around 6 million nonfiber broadband customers.

Read more: What is 5G Home Internet?

For reference, Netflix says it needs speeds of at least 15Mbps for 4K streaming, while Zoom says it requires download speeds of 3.8Mbps and upload speeds of 3Mbps for HD group video calls. It was not immediately clear what kind of upload speeds or latency AT&T’s Internet Air product might offer.

Setting up AT&T’s Internet Air also appears to be similar to how its rivals’ deliver their respective home internet offerings, with the carrier shipping users a modem/Wi-Fi router combo device and guiding setup, installation and management through an accompanying app. If you decide to cancel the service, you will simply need to return the device to AT&T.

Those with larger homes can get Wi-Fi extenders that connect to the router for an additional $10 per month, per extender (with a max of five extenders). Users can also connect their existing Wi-Fi routers to the AT&T device’s ethernet port if they would prefer to use their own setups. AT&T says its app can also guide users on ideal extender placement and that it will be able to send notifications to let users know that moving the router or extender could be useful to optimize the network.

While 5G hasn’t lived up to its significant hype in a number of areas, it has delivered some much-needed competition for consumers in home broadband as wireless carriers looked to compete with big cable companies such as Comcast, Charter and Optimum (plus in the case of T-Mobile, even wired offerings from Verizon and AT&T).

AT&T’s home internet news comes only a few days after the carrier confirmed that it was giving its 5G network an earlier-than-expected speed boost. Scarborough told CNET that the earlier clearance of C-band spectrum «did not play into our decision» to expand into these markets and that it has been planning this move for «several months.»

«We’ve been very thoughtful in how we’ve modeled this and where we believe we can provide the best in class customer experience.»

Technologies

Fitbit’s Kid-Friendly Smartwatch Gets a Sizable Amazon Spring Sale Discount

The now-$100 cellular connected smartwatch provides many phonelike benefits without handing over a full-fledged iPhone or Android.

Google’s Fitbit Ace LTE is a cellular-connected smartwatch meant for kids, and with a discount from Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, the watch could be a lower-cost way for calling or texting your child without handing over a full-fledged phone.

The Fitbit Ace LTE is normally $180 but is discounted down to $100 during Amazon’s shopping event. That’s back down to the all-time low price we saw during Black Friday. CNET’s Scott Stein reviewed the watch when it was first released in 2024, noting that his 11-year-old son used it constantly for playing games and making phone calls.

The Ace gives parents a lot of control over who can call or text your child with the watch, for better and for worse. The watch does have a required cellular plan in order to work — at a cost of $10 a month, or $120 annually — and was updated to allow for siblings to call each other if they both have the watch. However, most communication controls are handled on Fitbit’s Ace app, and primarily allow a parent to call or text their child using the watch.

The Ace LTE does have its own health-related features as well, but doesn’t have access to app marketplaces in the way that the Apple Watch does or watches that run on Google’s Wear OS. This could be a selling point, or it could be limiting, depending on how much digital freedom is appropriate for your child.

Why this deal matters

If your kid isn’t ready to graduate to a phone yet, the Fitbit Ace LTE is a good stepping stone with decent parental controls. This is back down to the lowest price we’ve seen on this smartwatch, so if you’re looking for a convenient communications device for your child, this is a great opportunity.