5G residential broadband service comes with YouTube TV and Apple TV 4K
Sacramento, Los Angeles, Houston and Indianapolis—with the Aug. 14 addition of Motor City, those are the four locales where Verizon will launch its 5G fixed wireless residential broadband service by the end of the year. Also this week Verizon announced it would include YouTube TV and Apple TV 4K with its broadband offering.
This initial fixed wireless deployment is based on a proprietary standard developed by Verizon and partners, and will be upgraded to the 3GPP non-standalone 5G New Radio standard as the carrier works to stand up mobile 5G services in 2019.
Last year Verizon worked with Ericsson and Intel to trial 5G services at the Indianapolis 500. The trio showcased consumer-facing applications like streaming virtual reality and 360-degree, 4K video. Other use cases touted by the companies include crystal-clear security camera feeds that can be tapped through the cloud, other AR/VR interactions, and providing a platform for internet of things devices and services.
Noting the trial activity, Verizon EVP, Wireless Operations, Tami Erwin said in a statement, “The city of Indianapolis has been a strong partner in laying the groundwork for Verizon 5G. By becoming an early leader in 5G, Indianapolis will have a head start in seeing what this technology can do, using it to build an innovative city of the future.”
According to Verizon, the initial broadband service will include access to YouTube TV and Apple TV 4K. YouTube TV lets users stream live TV from major networks ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, the Turner networks and more. Apple TV 4K supports 4K and HDR video, and brings titles from iTunes, Netflix and Prime Video, as well as supporting voice-based control with digital assistant Siri.