Verizon 5G Home internet service goes live with free Apple TV offer
Verizon has launched its 5G Home Internet service in four cities, competing against normal home broadband with a cellular-based version boasting connection speeds of up to 300Mbps, with an Apple TV 4K offered to tempt customers to sign up to the service.
As previously announced by the carrier, Verizon's 5G Home service has gone live in four markets, with limited areas of Sacramento and Los Angeles, CA; Houston, TX; and Indianapolis, IN. able to sign up for in the initial rollout.
Verizon is offering three months for free, then the service will cost $50 per month for existing Verizon subscribers, $70 for everyone else.
Running on Verizon's "proprietary 5G standard," 5G Home is similar to a typical home broadband service, with Internet access provided via a single router, albeit one that uses the carrier's cellular network instead of a physical connection. Speeds of around 300 megabits per second are touted, rising to nearly gigabit speeds in some areas, seemingly with no data caps.
To sweeten the deal for early adopters, customers can request either a free Apple TV 4K or Chromecast Ultra, provided at the time of installation, as well as three free months of YouTube TV access. Those signing up are also to receive "white glove installation" of the service, a 24-hour concierge line, access to the first wave of 5G-capable mobile devices when they become available, and free hardware upgrades when they become available in the first year.
The latter point is likely to be very beneficial to customers, as Verizon is using its own version of 5G for the service, rather than an industry standard variant. As the iteration used will only communicate with specialized devices, in this case 5G Home routers, when the company migrates to standard 3GPP 5G NR technology for future installations in new areas, hardware upgrades are likely to be offered to the earlier customers.
The rollout of the service will also help Verizon in expanding its 5G network in general, which will provide high-speed connectivity for future smartphones and other mobile devices. While Verizon does claim the title as the first of the U.S. operators to produce a commercial 5G network with their 5G Home product, it is likely that subscribers will have to wait until 2019 before they can receive the same speed benefits from their smartphones.
As previously announced by the carrier, Verizon's 5G Home service has gone live in four markets, with limited areas of Sacramento and Los Angeles, CA; Houston, TX; and Indianapolis, IN. able to sign up for in the initial rollout.
Verizon is offering three months for free, then the service will cost $50 per month for existing Verizon subscribers, $70 for everyone else.
Running on Verizon's "proprietary 5G standard," 5G Home is similar to a typical home broadband service, with Internet access provided via a single router, albeit one that uses the carrier's cellular network instead of a physical connection. Speeds of around 300 megabits per second are touted, rising to nearly gigabit speeds in some areas, seemingly with no data caps.
To sweeten the deal for early adopters, customers can request either a free Apple TV 4K or Chromecast Ultra, provided at the time of installation, as well as three free months of YouTube TV access. Those signing up are also to receive "white glove installation" of the service, a 24-hour concierge line, access to the first wave of 5G-capable mobile devices when they become available, and free hardware upgrades when they become available in the first year.
The latter point is likely to be very beneficial to customers, as Verizon is using its own version of 5G for the service, rather than an industry standard variant. As the iteration used will only communicate with specialized devices, in this case 5G Home routers, when the company migrates to standard 3GPP 5G NR technology for future installations in new areas, hardware upgrades are likely to be offered to the earlier customers.
The rollout of the service will also help Verizon in expanding its 5G network in general, which will provide high-speed connectivity for future smartphones and other mobile devices. While Verizon does claim the title as the first of the U.S. operators to produce a commercial 5G network with their 5G Home product, it is likely that subscribers will have to wait until 2019 before they can receive the same speed benefits from their smartphones.
Comments
Bring on 5G!!!
(Yea, I know. We’ll probably be waiting years for that too...)
I live in a new neighborhood - all the houses and utilities are less than 10 years old and all of the utilities were installed when the houses were installed. our only option for broadband is Comcast. I have no idea why they didn't bother to put the infrastructure in when they installed the lines for their phone service, but for whatever reason we're dealing with a Comcast monopoly.
Here's where you can keep up with news about REAL 5G:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G
https://www.sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions/5g-standards/
https://www.sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions/imt-2020/
When it's available, which it currently is not, REAL 5G will have maximum download bandwidth of up to 20,000 megabits per second, versus Verizon's '5G' bandwidth of 300 to ~1,000 megabits per second. Obviously, that's a profound difference. The maximum upload bandwidth of REAL 5G will be 10,000 megabits per second.
Question: Will hardware capable of running Verizon's "5G" be able to run REAL 5G.
Answer: No. REAL 5G continues to evolve. There is only hardware available is for testing purposes.
Conclusion: It's a marketing game. This isn't about science. It isn't about actual technology standards. Whether we want to play this marketing game is up to each of us. But Verizon's 'proprietary 5G standard' is not REAL 5G. We are likely to see REAL 5G starting to be available in hardware and services in maybe 2019, probably 2020.
https://www.cnet.com/news/how-spacex-brings-starlink-broadband-satellite-internet-to-low-earth-orbit/
Where I live, Verizon and what was Time Warner Cable entered into an illegal, under-the-table non-compete agreement. If you live in a zone with Time Warner Cable (temporarily under the name of 'Spectrum' until Charter is booted out of New York this month), it's impossible to get Verizon FIOS to connect to your house. So much for competition benefitting my community. :-P These companies are disgusting, having destroyed the integrity of the FCC, run by proven liar Ajit Pai. This is corporatocracy. This is idiocracy.