Verizon to deliver home internet via 5G tech
The competition for consumer dollars spent on broadband internet service in Connecticut gets a little more heated this week, as telecommunications giant Verizon launches what it calls 5G Home in parts of Hartford.
Verizon plans to extend the service to other communities in the future, according to Verizon spokesman Chris Serico. The service carries a $50 per month price tag for for Verizon customers and $70 per month for everyone else.
In return, company officials say users will get typical download speeds of 300 megabits per second and upload speeds around 50 megabits per second.
The lack of choice among providers has become a high profile issue in Connecticut in the past year, with so many more people working from home during the pandemic.
High-speed service is what makes Zoom meetings and remote classrooms run smoothly, without video images freezing. It allows workers to download large files from their employers more quickly, and also to stream movies or video games.
Gov. Ned Lamont has said his
administration would push to make broadband more widely available available across the state and to increase the service choices in areas that already have it.
Serico said bringing 5G Home to your residence doesn’t require the help of a technician. It also comes with no annual contracts and no data caps.
The launch of the service marks Verizon’s first entry into Connecticut’s overall broadband market. While the company has long been part of the state’s cellular phone service market (which allows for internet access), it does offer its FIOS fiber optic broadband and cable television service anywhere in Connecticut.
5G, or “fifth generation” technology, started out as an exclusive broadband service for cellular phone users.
But according to Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunications analyst based in Atlanta, Verizon and other mobile service providers are now looking to exploit the technology to woo customers who are dissatisfied with their existing broadband choices.
“Though its a cellular broadband technology, the real push right now is the home market,” Kagan said. “Everything you do with [traditional] broadband now, you’ll have the ability to do with 5G home.”
Here’s how 5G home works in the simplest of terms, according to Lon Seidman, a technology expert from Essex. The signal is delivered to the home through the air using cellular transmissions.
An antenna at the home picks up the signal and delivers it to the rest of the home, creating an internet hot spot.
“The big takeaway from 5G is that they can fit more customers on a single [cellular] tower,” Seidman said. “Before, they could not get as many people crammed on a tower.”
With the launch of 5G home in Hartford, the service will be available in parts of 28 cities around the country. Seidman said that while Verizon’s 5G service “is pretty darn good,” its success will ultimately depend upon where you are in the state.
“A lot of areas struggle to get a cell signal, so it’s not going to be good everywhere,” Seidman said. “It will be better in the more densely populated areas.”