How Did AT & T Pursue The Race To The Future

As the race to the future through technology advances daily, it comes to no surprise that the top corporations within the wireless market are at it again with the latest and greatest. 5G is the next big step into the future, but who will get there first. The most recent polls are in and Verizon is heading the charge, but AT&T is not far behind. Jon Brodkin of arstechnica.com and David Goldman of CNN both wrote articles that take a more in depth look at what 5G looks like for us as a consumer and why AT&T chose the approach they did for pursuing the new technology. Every decade since the 90’s there have been huge advancements with wireless technology, but instead of waiting a decade after 4G LTE has grown into a worthy provider, companies

The biggest reason AT&T has chosen to pursue 5G, other than their top competitor doing the same, is that they want to be ready to make the switch over as soon as the standards are set and people have a clear definition and expectation of what 5G will be for them. AT&T also said, “5G will be used for virtual reality, self-driving vehicles, robotics, smart cities, and massive sensor

In the CNN article interview with Bill Smith, president of AT&T’s network operations, he said, "Unfortunately, every time there's a new network technology announced, there's always a tremendous amount of hype," referring to Verizon's 5G announcement. "When I first saw it, I said, 'Oh no, here we go again.” He also alluded to the fact that they have been researching 5G long before they were pushed to commenting on it. AT&T seems to be taking a back seat approach on the marketing side and a driver seat on the development side. Both articles give the details on AT&T’s approach and are very similar, but they don’t really go into the strategy of the approach. In my opinion, AT&T is doing all the right things. In actuality, we don’t know how far along they are with the process, but they paint the picture that they will be ready when the world is ready. They are not pushing to hard to implement 5G instantly, but they are also not sitting around letting someone else develop and set the standard either. They are confident in the position they hold in the race and wouldn’t have it any other