5G E? 5G Plus? 5G Ultrawideband? Will the real 5G please stand up?
AT&T has drawn ridicule by relabeling the network used by some of its phones as "5G E" to signal that the next-generation wireless network is here. Problem is, phones capable of connecting to 5G aren't coming for another few months, and a national 5G network won't be deployed until 2020 or 2021.
But Verizon, which complained Tuesday about AT&T's move, did something similar when it launched a residential wireless service with the 5G moniker using its own proprietary technology. Although there are now industry standards specifying exactly what 5G networks must meet, dubbed "5G NR," there are still some grey areas, particularly when it comes to marketing. Carriers are using all tools at their disposal as they race to try to convince consumers they'll be "first" with 5G.
FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2016, file photo, the AT&T logo is positioned above one of its retail stores in New York. AT&T has drawn ridicule by relabeling the network used by some of its phones as “5G E” to signal that the next-generation wireless network is here. Problem is, phones capable of connecting to 5G aren’t coming for another few months, and a national 5G network won’t be deployed until 2020 or 2021. (AP PhotoMark Lennihan, File)
A new generation of wireless network comes along every several years, so the stakes are high for carriers to establish their dominance. When it's fully deployed, the "5G" network is expected to give mobile users faster speeds for video, self-driving cars and connected devices at home as demand for these ramps up.
IDC analyst Jason Leigh said labeling 5G is a "battle between marketers and engineers," as they try to balance hype and reality.
There's a history of carriers being murky about network claims. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint started calling an enhanced 3G network 4G in the early 2010s. There's more pushback this time because people are now more aware of what a next-generation network can do.
FILE- In this Sept. 26, 2018, file photo visitors stand near a 5G logo at a display the PT Expo in Beijing. AT&T has drawn ridicule by relabeling the network used by some of its phones as “5G E” to signal that the next-generation wireless network is here. Problem is, phones capable of connecting to 5G aren’t coming for another few months, and a national 5G network won’t be deployed until 2020 or 2021. (AP PhotoMark Schiefelbein, File)
AT&T said in December that it would offer a "5G Evolution" service to some of its newest Android phones in 400 markets. The "5G Evolution" service is essentially the existing 4G network with some added features that can boost speeds, technology similar to what Verizon and T-Mobile have also rolled out under different names. That's separate from the standards-based 5G network that AT&T and others are building.
Bob O'Donnell from Technalysis Research said AT&T's "5G E" network may be slightly faster than the current 4G service but it is more like "4.5G" than "5G."
"It's not really 5G, and it's very confusing to people," he said. "I'm not very sure what the logic was to be honest."
On Tuesday, Verizon launched a marketing offensive pushing back on the "5G E" label with full-page ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere.
"The potential to over-hype and under-deliver on the 5G promise is a temptation that the wireless industry must resist," Verizon chief technology officer Kyle Malady wrote in the ad. Malady also said Verizon wouldn't "call our 4G network a 5G network if customers don't experience a performance or capability upgrade that only 5G can deliver."
Still, Verizon itself rolled out a 5G wireless broadband service in four cities in October using its own proprietary technology rather than industry-based standards. This residential service is meant to compete with cable rather than offer cellular connectivity outside the home. Verizon plans to update the equipment once standards-based devices are available, but there's no timeline for that.
Verizon spokesman Kevin King said comparing Verizon's 5G service to AT&T's move is a mistake because Verizon has been clear that it wasn't using standards-compliant equipment right away.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere, meanwhile, tweeted a tongue-in-cheek video showing T-Mobile's LTE network symbol on a phone replaced with a piece of tape reading "9G."
AT&T declined to comment about the pushback.
While there aren't any legal ramifications in calling AT&T's latest network 5G E, there's a risk in alienating customers, said Leigh, the IDC analyst.
"They're entitled to call their product whatever they want," Leigh said. "Ultimately they'll have to deal with any confusion from a customer perspective."
SYDNEY (AP) — Two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing at least 11 people in what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.
The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular and iconic beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those and Sunday’s shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.
One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second was arrested and in critical condition, authorities said. Police said one of the gunmen was known to the security services, but there had been no specific threat.
At least 29 people were confirmed wounded, including two police officers, said Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner for New South Wales state, where Sydney is located.
Police said officers were examining a number of suspicious items, including several improvised explosive devices found in one of the suspect’s cars.
“This attack was designed to target Sydney's Jewish community,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said.
The violence erupted at the end of a hot summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach centers around the world and sponsors public events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details.
Police said emergency services were called to Campbell Parade in Bondi about 6:45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired. Video filmed by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out. Separate footage showed two men in black shirts firing with rifles from a footbridge leading to the beach, as sirens wailed and people cried out in the background.
One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.
Minns called the unidentified man a “genuine hero.”
Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press he was waiting for his family nearby when he heard shots. He dropped the beer he was carrying and ran.
"I sprinted as quickly as I could," Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes. “Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible."
Local resident Catherine Merchant said “it was the most perfect day and then this happened.
“Everyone was just running and there were bullets and there were so many of them and we were really scared,” she told Australia’s ABC News.
Albanese told reporters in the capital, Canberra, that he was “devastated” by the massacre.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith. An act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation,” Albanese said.
He vowed the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.”
King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on X that he was horrified, and his “heart is with the Jewish community worldwide.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the “ghastly terrorist attack.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the “appalling attack.” Police in London said they would step up security at Jewish sites.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that “the United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.”
Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.
Last year, the country was rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population lives.
Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran.
Pastor Matt Graham was conducting a service at Bondi Anglican Church when panicked people began entering for shelter. He said antisemitism has been brewing in Sydney’s eastern suburbs including Bondi, where the Jewish community is centered.
"I’m surrounded by antisemitic graffiti constantly. I think for our community in the east (of Sydney), and as a Christian, I just want to declare I stand with the people of Israel,” Graham told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Israel urged Australia's government to address crimes targeting Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he warned Australia’s leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia's decision — in line with scores of other countries — to recognize a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”
“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia ... and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Australia's government should "fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.”
Mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms.
Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014 and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.
In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.
McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia, and Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
A small Christmas tree is at the center of an abandoned holiday picnic at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Bystanders stay where police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers standby at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
