ATT AIR - Purpose ?

The purpose, my opinion…

* is to offer a faster internet connection with no data cap to rural, semi rural and urban environments where only satellite internet (HughsNet /ViaSat), legacy DSL (best speed of 6 with 150g data cap, overage charges of $10/50 up to $200 per month) or ADSL2+ (best speed of 18/1 with 1T data cap, overage charge $10/50G up to $100) is available. 

* An alternative to local cable that generally offers faster download but low upload.

* for those looking for redundancy to hardwired internet, in other words a backup service to main source

* those looking for convenience, no tech installation, none entering home or running wires require possible drilling.

The service uses CGNAT the same as ATT Fixed Wireless that has potential of 1.1 million addresses within 18 states but now ATT AIR FWA can be offered both in ATT Uverse markets and outside markets.

Over the past two years T-Mobile and Verizon has been offering similar FWA product as ATT AIR with Verizon reporting 2.7 million users added in 2 years with 1/3 of those being businesses using the service as backup. T-Mobile states that customers are about 90% overall satisfaction meaning 10% are cancelling their service likely for reasons your cancelling.

BTW FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) is the fastest growing segment of the internet with expectations about 90% of all new connections this year will be FWA. ATT by end 2025 has stated 75% of their footprint will be fiber , 50% of footprint (30+ million addresses) will be direct fiber FTTP while the remaining 25% will be fiber to the cell tower (hotspots such as ATT AIR). The remaining 25% will have no improved offerings from their standard copper based service.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roslynlayton/2022/04/24/five-things-about-fixed-wireless-access-fwa-the-future-of-broadband/?sh=33fd737e9310

5. Competition and the copper killer

The explosion in wireless technologies in the US has led to price cuts in wireline broadband. Prices for wireline technologies have fallen as much as 42 percent in the last six years. In countries with heavy DSL usage like Germany and the United Kingdom, FWA is considered the “copper killer” because it is more cost effective to access high speed wireless broadband than existing DSL networks. AT&T recently announced slashing its copper footprint in half by 2025, and Verizon has already upgraded 4.5 million circuits on its network from copper. Internationally, Norway is in the process of decommissioning all DSL networks.

EDIT… your comment about not useful for 90% of those interested…

ATT AIR could potentially be offered to all who can receive ATT cell phone service within the US… if estimated total US population that can receive ATT 5 G service 295 million at average 2.5 people per household is 118 million if 10% would find the service acceptable that is 11.8 million potential AIR subscribers. In comparison ATT fiber scheduled to reach 30+ million addresses by end 2025 will have 10+ million subscribers as currently over 8 million adding about 1 million per year means by 2030 without any additional fiber buildout could reach 50% subscribers or 15 million by 2030 while cellular service costing less to deploy fiber to cell towers could reach very close numbers to hardwired service by that time.

The potential of 5G becoming a disruptive technology in the market is there no doubt. It is as always the execution that matters. My previous Uverse was slower but this far more reliable and I am close to two towers. I am a huge fan of the idea but not the execution by ATT this far. And yes I have tried all sorts of things to resolve.

Hi,

it sounds like you also ran into issues using this product, would you mind sharing what issues you’ve had 

thanks 

Sure, set up was a bit clunky. I had to move the hub to the opposite side of the house for it to sync to the tower. After that I moved it to where it needs to be. Then they needed to make some changes on their end (ATT). Day 3 it worked great. Day ten I noticed very poor performance but only on one aspect. My download and upload via speed test were ok 75/15 but ping was 500ms. Called and ATT changed some setting, had me reboot and then it was resolved but the fix does not hold as I have had repeated incidents. I am tech aware and have eliminated the obvious 

Thanks much for the information.  

How did applications and computers work with this network?  for example could you run your smart tv on this network? Could you get connection on a computer ? were you able to steam music and/or video?

Thanks,

When it works it works well. TV, video cameras, VPN, Sonos. You name it, it worked.

> I had to move the hub to the opposite side of the house for it to sync to the tower. After that I moved it to where it needs to be.

Part of your explanation indicates you may have in fact, impacted your own performance. The original location was probably where the best performance was but you then moved it. That is one of the limitations with FWA, where you want to place it is often not where it performs well (the later being close to à window, on the highest floor of the premises, on the side of the house facing the tower you use, etc.).

Yes I think you are likely correct. It would not connect initially where I wanted despite the fact the

position is more aligned with the tower it is connected to. 

I know this post is a little old but I wanted to add my experience.  Speeds are great

and have been reliable.  I was able to watch an NBA game and other streaming.  My problems are the same as the OP.  My work from home setup is very buggy, starts out ok, slows down, and sometimes stops.  I know a VPN is expected to slow things down but not this bad.  Similar issues with Hulu live TV as well.  Currently it thinks I’m in PA and not MA.  I can deal with the Hulu and know that’s not necessarily AT&T’s fault but the work from home is a deal breaker.  Getting ready to cancel service.  😕

Rosemary_53's post is gibberish.  I'm going to leave it as a reminder of the wise words of President Lincoln: "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet."