Airtel rolls out 5G services: How to activate 5G on a smartphone

The carrier will cover all urban areas by March 2023 and the entire country by March 2024 with its 5G services, he added. So in case you are thinking how to try Airtel’s 5G service and what all you would need for it, here is our detailed guide:

How to check a smartphone and location support 5G?

Airtel has confirmed that the users would be able to check the 5G availability in their region along with 5G compatibility for their existing smartphones using the Airtel Thanks app upon the 5G launch.

Prerequisites to use 5G services on a smartphone

Users need to be in a locality where 5G services are available. Airtel has mentioned that the 5G service is currently only in places where 5G towers are installed. A 5G compatible smartphone is required to run the 5G services. Today, most of the smartphones launched under ₹20,000 fulfill the criteria. Users would also need an active Airtel connection, meaning that existing 4G SIM is 5G ready.

Step to enable 5G on a smartphone:

STEP 1 Open the Settings app on a smartphone.

STEP 2 Head to Connections or Mobile network option.

STEP 3 Tap on Network mode and choose the 5G/4G/3G/2G option.

Notably, once the network mode is set to 5G, the device will automatically start showing the 5G logo at the top if a user is in a 5G-enabled location.

Which cities to get 5G first?

Delhi’s IGI Airport is the first to get 5G capabilities a couple of days before 5G launch. By Diwali, the service will be expanded to four cities – Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai. However, these cities will also face redundancy in the way that only parts of the city will receive the services. List of cities that will receive the 5G service in the initial rollout phase are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Varanasi, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Kolkata, Siliguri, Gurugram and Hyderabad.