any experiences with Note 10+ 5G on AT&T?

[GaryD9]

I live in an area (Pittsburgh, PA) where AT&T has rolled out their lowband 5G, and I'm considering a Note10+ 5G (instead of the non-5G Note10+.) I already have the non-5G 10+, but need to return it. I'm trying to decide if I should replace with another plain 10+ or with the 5G enabled.

Can anyone with this phone on AT&T please share their experiences? Speed differences between LTE and (real) 5G? Battery drain differences?

I've only found a single online review of this phone on AT&T, and it unfairly compared 5G to LTE-A with LAA and other advanced features (that simply don't exist in my area.) Reviews of the verizon 5G phone aren't helpful, as it uses a different modem (X50 vs X55) and uses mm band vs low band.

Thanks
Gary

 

[Rukbat]

AT&T "5G" is 5Ge - 5G "evolution". It's plain low frequency 4G-LTE with MIMO and fiber backhaul. Any regular 4G-LTE phone takes full advantage of it.

 

[GaryD9]

AT&T "5G" is 5Ge - 5G "evolution". It's plain low frequency 4G-LTE with MIMO and fiber backhaul. Any regular 4G-LTE phone takes full advantage of it.

You are incorrect. I'm not referring to AT&T's "5Ge" branding (which is actually LTE-Advanced.) I'm referring to the real low band 5G they are deploying on their 850Mhz spectrum and is only available (at the time of this post) when using the AT&T branded "Galaxy Note 10+ 5G" (where 5Ge is available on pretty much any newer phone they sell.)

 

[msm0511]

I live in an area (Pittsburgh, PA) where AT&T has rolled out their lowband 5G, and I'm considering a Note10+ 5G (instead of the non-5G Note10+.) I already have the non-5G 10+, but need to return it. I'm trying to decide if I should replace with another plain 10+ or with the 5G enabled.

Can anyone with this phone on AT&T please share their experiences? Speed differences between LTE and (real) 5G? Battery drain differences?

I've only found a single online review of this phone on AT&T, and it unfairly compared 5G to LTE-A with LAA and other advanced features (that simply don't exist in my area.) Reviews of the verizon 5G phone aren't helpful, as it uses a different modem (X50 vs X55) and uses mm band vs low band.

Thanks
Gary

I'd think the overall experience would be comparable to T-Mobile's 5G being they're both using low band. Better range, but not the crazy speeds. T-Mobile is getting on average 20% or so faster speeds in 5G coverage areas. The reviews mention battery life takes a hit, but it's not terribly different than the non-5G Note.

Granted this isn't exactly what you were asking, but that's the only info I have. Hope it helps a little.

 

[dtones39]

I have the Note 10+ 5g on T-Mobile and I would say I wish I save a little money and stuck with LTE. I thought I would get better coverage indoors but even though it says 5G, 9 out of 10 times its actually using 4g. In my area, on the T-Mobile map is completely covered by 5g but I rarely actually connect to 5g. It may be different on ATT though. I will say, the 2 spots my signal always dropped on my other phones no longer drops on my Note.

 

[GaryD9]

So, I've gone ahead and purchased the AT&T Note10+5G and thought I'd share my experiences for others who might search and find this thread:

First of all, AT&T is clueless. Once I had the phone in hand, I noticed that I wouldn't get a real 5G signal. I called AT&T about 6 times for this issue, and each rep would tell me something different. To make a very long story short, AT&T had to specifically provision the line for 5G, which resulted in their system pushing a new APN to the phone. Instead of "nxtgenphone", the 5G phones need a "enhancedphone" APN.

Once that was done, I was able to get a "5G" (not 5Ge) signal. However, speed tests under "5G" are no faster than speed tests when the phone reports "4G LTE" or "5Ge." This, actually, isn't unexpected. What's happening is that AT&T (to the best of my understanding right now) has only allocated a 5Mhz part of the 850Mhz band for 5G. The phone will only select that 5G signal when the 4G/LTE/5Ge signal would be worse (which, only has happened for me when I'm in a very congested area, such as a shopping mall.) In those places (and at those times) the 4G speeds would be horrible. For example, less than 30mbps. At the same time, the 5G speeds would be closer to 100mbps (only because no one else seems to be using the band.) Once more people are using AT&T's lowband 5G, I'm sure they'll allocate more bandwidth for it.

In other words, right this minute, AT&T's low band 5G is little more than a trial run and/or marketing gimmick.

All that being said, I'm still glad I got the phone. The reason is that I seem to be getting much better 4G reception with the 5G phone than I did with the non-5G Note10+. I'm not referring to the silly "bars" at the top of the phone, but to the actual signal strengths reported by apps such as CellMapper (and the fact that the 5G phone is able to hold a connection in areas where the non-5G phone would go to "no signal.") My only guess is that the 5G phone is using the X55 modem for 4G as well as 5G connections, and it's just a better modem than what is built into the snapdragon 855 chip. Or, perhaps, there's a different antenna placement on the 5G phone. Whatever the reason, it makes the phone more reliable.

Sadly, it appears that no one has done a tear down (or even x-ray) of the X55 variant of the note 10+5G (SM-N976U.) The closest I can find is a teardown of the SM-N976V which uses a completely different modem and antennas.)

As far as battery life, I can't tell yet. I'm still in that "first week" period of having the phone (and all android phones tend to have miserable battery life for the first week after purchase or after a factory reset.) I'm going to assume that because the hardware of this phone is identical to the hardware of the TMO variant, that the battery life will also be similar.

 

[msm0511]

So, I've gone ahead and purchased the AT&T Note10+5G and thought I'd share my experiences for others who might search and find this thread:

First of all, AT&T is clueless. Once I had the phone in hand, I noticed that I wouldn't get a real 5G signal. I called AT&T about 6 times for this issue, and each rep would tell me something different. To make a very long story short, AT&T had to specifically provision the line for 5G, which resulted in their system pushing a new APN to the phone. Instead of "nxtgenphone", the 5G phones need a "enhancedphone" APN.

Once that was done, I was able to get a "5G" (not 5Ge) signal. However, speed tests under "5G" are no faster than speed tests when the phone reports "4G LTE" or "5Ge." This, actually, isn't unexpected. What's happening is that AT&T (to the best of my understanding right now) has only allocated a 5Mhz part of the 850Mhz band for 5G. The phone will only select that 5G signal when the 4G/LTE/5Ge signal would be worse (which, only has happened for me when I'm in a very congested area, such as a shopping mall.) In those places (and at those times) the 4G speeds would be horrible. For example, less than 30mbps. At the same time, the 5G speeds would be closer to 100mbps (only because no one else seems to be using the band.) Once more people are using AT&T's lowband 5G, I'm sure they'll allocate more bandwidth for it.

In other words, right this minute, AT&T's low band 5G is little more than a trial run and/or marketing gimmick.

All that being said, I'm still glad I got the phone. The reason is that I seem to be getting much better 4G reception with the 5G phone than I did with the non-5G Note10+. I'm not referring to the silly "bars" at the top of the phone, but to the actual signal strengths reported by apps such as CellMapper (and the fact that the 5G phone is able to hold a connection in areas where the non-5G phone would go to "no signal.") My only guess is that the 5G phone is using the X55 modem for 4G as well as 5G connections, and it's just a better modem than what is built into the snapdragon 855 chip. Or, perhaps, there's a different antenna placement on the 5G phone. Whatever the reason, it makes the phone more reliable.

Sadly, it appears that no one has done a tear down (or even x-ray) of the X55 variant of the note 10+5G (SM-N976U.) The closest I can find is a teardown of the SM-N976V which uses a completely different modem and antennas.)

As far as battery life, I can't tell yet. I'm still in that "first week" period of having the phone (and all android phones tend to have miserable battery life for the first week after purchase or after a factory reset.) I'm going to assume that because the hardware of this phone is identical to the hardware of the TMO variant, that the battery life will also be similar.

That's been my understanding of low band 5G in general. Better coverage, but not necessarily crazy speed bumps. As my carrier (TMo) is also using low band, I've not been rushing to get a 5G phone yet. Of course if my next phone has 5G I'll be happy, but I'm not buying a phone just for 5G yet.

 

[dtones39]

That is my experience as well on T-Mobile, LTE signal seems to be better, I dont drop my data anymore when I am driving in certain spots that drop every time on my other phones. The ok only thing that bothers with with T-Mo is it constantly says 5G, even when I am actually connected to LTE.

Battery life for me is subpar, seems to drain rather quickly. I'll take it off the charger in the am and within 10-15 I'll lose 5-10% with little to no use. If I am watching videos, drains incredibly fast. I have the fast charger it came with and bought the big 45 w charger which charges incredibly fast, so that helps.

So, I've gone ahead and purchased the AT&T Note10+5G and thought I'd share my experiences for others who might search and find this thread:

First of all, AT&T is clueless. Once I had the phone in hand, I noticed that I wouldn't get a real 5G signal. I called AT&T about 6 times for this issue, and each rep would tell me something different. To make a very long story short, AT&T had to specifically provision the line for 5G, which resulted in their system pushing a new APN to the phone. Instead of "nxtgenphone", the 5G phones need a "enhancedphone" APN.

Once that was done, I was able to get a "5G" (not 5Ge) signal. However, speed tests under "5G" are no faster than speed tests when the phone reports "4G LTE" or "5Ge." This, actually, isn't unexpected. What's happening is that AT&T (to the best of my understanding right now) has only allocated a 5Mhz part of the 850Mhz band for 5G. The phone will only select that 5G signal when the 4G/LTE/5Ge signal would be worse (which, only has happened for me when I'm in a very congested area, such as a shopping mall.) In those places (and at those times) the 4G speeds would be horrible. For example, less than 30mbps. At the same time, the 5G speeds would be closer to 100mbps (only because no one else seems to be using the band.) Once more people are using AT&T's lowband 5G, I'm sure they'll allocate more bandwidth for it.

In other words, right this minute, AT&T's low band 5G is little more than a trial run and/or marketing gimmick.

All that being said, I'm still glad I got the phone. The reason is that I seem to be getting much better 4G reception with the 5G phone than I did with the non-5G Note10+. I'm not referring to the silly "bars" at the top of the phone, but to the actual signal strengths reported by apps such as CellMapper (and the fact that the 5G phone is able to hold a connection in areas where the non-5G phone would go to "no signal.") My only guess is that the 5G phone is using the X55 modem for 4G as well as 5G connections, and it's just a better modem than what is built into the snapdragon 855 chip. Or, perhaps, there's a different antenna placement on the 5G phone. Whatever the reason, it makes the phone more reliable.

Sadly, it appears that no one has done a tear down (or even x-ray) of the X55 variant of the note 10+5G (SM-N976U.) The closest I can find is a teardown of the SM-N976V which uses a completely different modem and antennas.)

As far as battery life, I can't tell yet. I'm still in that "first week" period of having the phone (and all android phones tend to have miserable battery life for the first week after purchase or after a factory reset.) I'm going to assume that because the hardware of this phone is identical to the hardware of the TMO variant, that the battery life will also be similar.

 

[saxyschoppy]

Any updates by chance? I'm looking hard at this phone, but can't seem to find confirmation if the GPS issue is fixed for AT&T or not. Would love to know your experience using the GPS while connected to LB 5G on AT&T.