HOME AND AWAY
5G handsets are grabbing the early YouTube and social media bandwidth, but 5G is actually far from just a mobile technology. Indeed, when Verizon launched its first 5G services last year, it actually implemented its home 5G product first, following with a mobile service later.
The immediate benefits of home 5G are obvious enough. It enables fast broadband to be delivered without the need to connect to a wired infrastructure. In other words, no more digging up streets to lay cables and fiber.
Verizon charges either $70 dollars a month for a standalone service or $50 to its mobile customers who have an existing plan of at least $30 per month. The first three months are currently free, and there are no other up-front fees. For that you get claimed speeds of 300Mb/s. The service can also fall back to 4G connectivity if there are issues with the local 5G cells.
Early reports from customers suggest the performance claims are fairly realistic, while latencies in the very low double digits are often reported, meaning there’s little if any penalty in that area versus a wired connection. If that all sounds good, the service’s roll- out hasn’t been entirely smooth. In fact, Verizon has put the brakes on adding coverage. Verizon said in January that it was waiting on new standards- compliant hardware before resuming the roll-out. However, some commentators reckon the problem is more serious.
According to a report by research analysts at MoffettNathanson, the effective range of the small millimeter wave cells is smaller than expected, so more cells will be required at greater cost to Verizon. Allegedly, Verizon has installed 200 cells in one of its initial locations, in Sacramento, California, but that covers just 10 percent of the city.