Verizon millimeter wave-based 5G available in parts of nine cities
Verizon announced today it has activated its “5G Ultra Wideband” mobile service in parts of Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis and Washington D.C. These four cities join Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Providence and St. Paul as nine of the target 30 5G markets the carrier is working to bring live by the end of the year.
A speed test conducted in Detroit on an LG V50 and posted to Twitter by a Verizon employee showed downlink throughput speeds of more than 1.5 Gbps. The millimeter wave transmission has supported speeds in excess of 2 Gbps.
In addition to the LG V50, Verizon is selling the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, two Motorola devices that require a 5G “mod” and Inseego’s MiFi M1000.
Other named 5G cities include Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Houston, Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, San Diego, and Salt Lake City.
Verizon’s Kyle Malady, chief technology officer, said in a statement that 5G “will power the future of consumer, business and government mobile applications. Similarly, cities that embrace new technology…have a leg up in competition to attract businesses and create jobs.”
As it’s deploying mobile 5G, Verizon is also constructing new fiber runs in more than 60 cities. Speaking last month at a Wells Fargo event, Malady shared his perspective on the co-engineering between wired and wireless.
“As the networks flatten and the antennas get smaller and you put them lower, I think the best way to characterize it is frankly wireless becomes fiber with antennas hanging off of it essentially,” he said. “That’s why we decided we wanted to go big into fiber. It made sense to us because we’re…going to be densifying 4G. We saw 5G coming. And we see a host of other uses for the fiber.”
