Airtel started the launch of its 5G services with eight cities initially. It is the first company to bring 5G in India and today has more than 10 cities in its list of 5G-ready cities.
Airtel is offering the Non Standalone(NSA) version of 5G. In NSA mode, the 5G network is built over the existing layer of 4G network. It is different from the architecture of Standalone mode of 5G in which the network is built from scratch. Jio is giving Standalone mode of 5G which it claims is the most superior mode of 5G technology.
Airtel claims that its 5G services are up to 30x faster than the data speeds experienced on Airtel 4G. This means that HD and 4K videos, games, and audios can be downloaded in just a few seconds.
Airtel, which has already made its 5G services live in multiple cities, plans to launch it in all key metro cities by the end of this month and country-wide coverage by the end of next year.
Airtel 5G Plus services are currently live in 13 cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur, Varanasi, Panipat, Gurugram, Guwahati, Patna and Lucknow. According to the sources, Airtel could next roll out 5G services in Shimla followed by several more cities soon.
To check if your phone is 5G enabled, Airtel recommends opening the Airtel Thanks app on the phone to check if the phone or the city is 5G enabled or not.
To access Airtel 5G services, you don’t have to buy a separate SIM. The company has made all its existing SIMs 5G-enabled which means the company’s 5G services can be accessed on both Airtel 5G Plus and 4G networks. These SIMs will work seamlessly on all 5G-supporting phones.
With Apple’s latest iOS 16.2 software update, Airtel 5G Plus services can now also be accessed on iPhones.
