You're going to hear a lot of "5G firsts" arguments, as the largest telecom companies strive to provide the next generation of wireless services. And one comes from AT & T.

The company announced that it has successfully completed the world's first "first millimeter wave" 5G connection over a live network with what will be a commercial "standard" 5G commercial device.

Do your eyes intersect? Let's break it down a bit first.

5G is the next generation of wireless technology that will take technology to the next level. The current technology-based reality is a little more like what we see in our favorite sci-fi movies, with smart devices, autonomous cars and Smart Cities. And some of the small steps in that direction will probably start with smarter, faster phones running on 5G networks.

With the AT & T test, the device used was a NETGEAR Nighthawk 5G mobile access point, rather than a mobile 5G smartphone. You know, the device to which a phone or tablet connects to access Wi-Fi.

The AT & T test was completed in Waco, Texas, one of twelve previously named cities, where AT & T says it will be the first operator in the world to offer a 5G mobile service.

Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Louisville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Raleigh and San Antonio are among the other launching cities announced this year. 19 more are planned for the beginning of 2019.

While AT & T is focused on 5G on the move, its rival Verizon is embarking on a different 5G strategy, targeting instead what is essentially a replacement for home broadband, called "fixed wireless network".

There is a lot of hype around all this, of course. David Christopher, president of AT & T Mobility and Entertainment, called the news "a crucial moment in the advancement of 5G mobile technology."

These are, in fact, the first days for 5G, which combines blazing speeds with faster network responsiveness, is also called low latency. Under no circumstances will this extensive deployment of 5G take place overnight, which means that promises that change the rules of the game, whether remote surgery or autonomous driving, may to extend in the next decade.

You will start to see the 5G phones start coming out next year.

Carl Pei, the co-founder of Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus, said his company would be among the first to deliver such a phone in 2019. According to rumors, the company would win a US carrier, called T-Mobile, for its next device, a 4G smartphone called OnePlus 6T, which should be announced Monday.

T-Mobile, of course, has its own ambitions for 5G, with or without its fusion partner (pending Uncle Sam's approval) Sprint.

To further complicate the marketing battlefield, Sprint and LG announced earlier this year that their partner would be paired with Sprint's first 5G phone, scheduled for release in the first half of 2019.

It's far from October 13, 1983 – when AT & T will be happy to remind you when it teamed up with Ameritech Mobile Communications to launch the country's first commercial cellular phone service in Chicago.

While each of the operators is fighting for the different "firsts" of the 5G, it does not matter as long as real people can not get their hands on the devices and have access to the networks. In other words, most of you will wait a moment.

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