Verizon 5G home Internet: $ 70 / month, 300 Mbps at 1 Gbps, no data limit

Verizon Wireless will begin offering 5G wireless Internet service next month in parts of four cities in the United States, with service to other cities on an undetermined date.

"Typical" download speeds will be around 300 Mbps. The maximum speed of nearly 1 Gbit / s will be available "depending on the location", and there will be "no data limitation," Verizon said. The speeds are fast enough to compete with Verizon's fiber-to-the-home service, and the carrier has already stated that its 5G network will have latencies "to a millisecond."

Verizon 5G Home will be available in parts of Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento from October 1st, and customers can sign up as early as Thursday morning, Verizon announced yesterday.

The first users of the service in these four cities will get it for free for the first three months. "After this introductory period, current Verizon Wireless customers with an eligible smartphone plan will pay $ 50 per month for the service, while non-Verizon Wireless customers will pay $ 70 per month," Verizon said. "This monthly fee includes all taxes and fees, and does not require an annual contract.There is no additional hardware fee."

Customers will also receive three free months of YouTube TV and a free 4K Apple TV or Google Chromecast Ultra, according to Verizon.

If you are not in a launch pad, you can sign up to receive availability updates from Thursday on this Verizon page.

Initial availability will be limited to "certain neighborhoods" in the four launching cities. "Verizon will quickly expand its coverage area once we can install new equipment that meets the standards of our suppliers," said the carrier.

Unlimited?

While Verizon has stated that its wireless Internet service would have no data limitations, Verizon's "unlimited" mobile services may be limited during periods of network congestion once customers use a certain amount each month. We asked Verizon if a similar limitation would be applied to the 5G home Internet and would update this story if we get an answer. We also asked Verizon for service download speeds and information on equipment to use at home.

Verizon said its download speeds of 300 Mbps to 1 Gbps were achieved with "deep fiber resources across the network" and "a large deployment of small cells". While home Internet service uses multiple frequency bands, Verizon said it was heavily dependent on millimeter wave frequencies, "the only one to have the bandwidth needed to reach the 5G potential of capacity, throughput, and latency ".

Verizon's wireless network already has the highest utilization rate among 80 mobile operators worldwide, according to a new study by Rewheel Research. "Verizon was the operator with the highest average annual capacity utilization of 57% in 2017", while most operators were below 20% and the US average at 33%, said the research group.

The limitations of the Verizon network have been a hot topic recently, since Santa Clara County Fire Services complained that a device with an unlimited data plan was being strangled while They were fighting the biggest forest fire in California.

Verizon's 5G mobile service has not yet been launched.

AT & T also plans to launch a 5G home Internet service and has already started testing. AT & T says its tests offer speeds of nearly 1 Gbps and a latency of less than 20 milliseconds. T-Mobile US and Sprint, who are trying to merge, also say they will offer high-speed home service.