Technologies

AT&T Subscribers Just Got a Significant 5G Speed Boost Due to New Spectrum

The carrier’s recent purchase of spectrum licenses from EchoStar broadens AT&T’s 5G capacity.

AT&T announced Monday that it has improved 5G performance across its network in the continental United States by activating wireless spectrum — the frequencies used for data transmission — that it acquired in a $23 billion purchase from EchoStar in September. If you’re an AT&T customer who owns a 5G-capable phone or subscribes to AT&T Internet Air home internet, you might already be seeing a boost.

The company says customer download speeds can increase 80% when connected to the wireless network in areas with the upgraded spectrum. For AT&T Internet Air subscribers, the speed increase could be up to 55%. The new increased capacity opens up more possibilities for gaming, streaming content and accessing other high-data applications, as well as connecting rural customers who don’t have access to home fiber internet options.

The upgrade is also arriving — at least so far — without a price increase for existing customers. Verizon and T-Mobile instituted three-year and five-year price guarantees in 2025, so hopefully AT&T’s improved infrastructure doesn’t trigger higher rates. Based on the company’s announcement, though, the expanded spectrum also benefits AT&T internally, making its network more efficient, reducing the need to build new cellular towers and encouraging customers to subscribe to both mobile and home internet services.

It also boosts the capabilities of AT&T’s FirstNet program, which enables first responders to have guaranteed communications even when capacity is restricted, such as during a natural disaster.

Over a period of «a few weeks,» the company has deployed hardware to 23,000 cell sites that enables midband (3.45 GHz) spectrum in more than 5,300 cities across 48 states, according to AT&T.

What’s the significance of midband? 5G networks work across a swathe of spectrum frequencies. High-speed millimeter-wave signals offer the highest speed and performance, but have limited range and don’t work well with obstructions, such as buildings. Low-band 5G offers the slowest speeds but works over a broader area. Midband is a balance of the two, offering faster speeds than low-band with larger coverage.

From the customer’s perspective, this should translate into faster, more consistent network access. If you’re an AT&T subscriber, you’ll see «5G+» in the status bar of your phone when connected to a millimeter wave or midband network, or «5G» in a low-band area. (You might also see «5GE,» which is actually 4G LTE and not 5G.)

To give you a single data point, I was sitting in my home office in Seattle using an AT&T-connected phone with full bars and «5G+» displayed. I ran Ookla’s Speedtest app and got download speeds of nearly 500Mbps and upload speeds of around 80Mbps. That’s comparable to many home internet speeds (and echoes the performance I got on a recent United Airlines flight using onboard Starlink Wi-Fi).

(Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

Technologies

Verum Messenger Goes Desktop: Launches macOS Version as Part of Expanding Digital Ecosystem

The team behind Verum Messenger has announced a new update, introducing a full-featured macOS version of the application.

The launch of the Mac version marks a significant step in the platform’s development, enabling users to access Verum Messenger not only on mobile devices but also on desktop environments.

The macOS version ensures seamless synchronization across devices while maintaining the platform’s core principles: security, stability, and independence.

Unified Digital Experience

With the release of the macOS version, users can now:

— communicate on a larger screen
— manage chats and files more efficiently
— use the messenger in a full desktop environment
— access core features without limitations

This is particularly valuable for users who rely on messaging platforms for both communication and professional use.

Expanding Capabilities

Verum Messenger continues to evolve into a multifunctional platform combining:

— secure communication
— financial tools (Verum Finance)
— digital asset operations, including Tether
— investment features such as Verum Gold

Toward a Full Ecosystem

The macOS release reflects Verum Messenger’s strategy to become a universal digital platform available across all major devices.

According to the team, the goal is to provide users with continuous access to communication and financial services regardless of device or environment.

Verum Messenger continues to build technologies focused on security, usability, and global accessibility.

Technologies

Google, Meta and Amazon Join Global Pact to Fight Rising Online Scams

The companies will share fraud intelligence and coordinate responses as AI makes scams faster, cheaper and harder to detect.

Modern online scams operate across multiple platforms, perhaps spanning social media, messaging apps, email and online marketplaces. Google, Meta and Amazon are among 11 tech, retail and payments companies that have signed a new agreement to combat online scams by sharing threat intelligence across platforms, Axios first reported Monday.

The initiative, called the Industry Accord Against Online Scams & Fraud, is designed to improve how companies detect and respond to fraud that spans multiple services. Participants say they will exchange signals, such as scam-linked accounts and fraudulent domains, and coordinate enforcement actions.

By sharing intelligence in near real time, companies hope to identify these scams earlier and stop them before they spread.

The effort reflects how modern scams operate. A victim might encounter a fake celebrity investment ad on social media, move to a messaging app where the scammer builds trust, then faces prompts to send money through a fraudulent website, payment app or crypto wallet — spanning multiple companies’ ecosystems.

Google said it now blocks hundreds of millions of scam-related results every day using AI, underscoring how both attackers and defenders are increasingly relying on the same technology. Meta removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025 and is expanding AI tools to detect impersonation and warn users.

Online scams are growing rapidly, in part because generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry. AI can be used not only to produce realistic phishing emails but also to clone voices and deepfake videos that impersonate executives, public figures and even family members.

The agreement is voluntary and doesn’t create new legal obligations, but it comes after regulators’ increased pressure on tech platforms to address fraud more aggressively. The companies say they will begin building frameworks for reporting and intelligence-sharing, though it’s not yet clear how quickly those systems will be deployed or how effective they will be in practice.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, March 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I thought it was a fairly easy one, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.