Back in February, Verizon said its 2019 plan was to offer mobile 5G in over 30 cities a non-trivial task for a carrier focused on the short-distance, millimeter wave flavor of 5G service. Today, the carrier announced it has met its goal with a week to spare, though the accomplishment comes with the caveat that its 5G service is only available in small parts of each city.
Verizon’s mobile 5G network is launching in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, as well as the coastal area of Virginia known as Hampton Roads, with each deployment focusing on downtown areas and major landmarks. The carrier notes that it’s now offering 5G at John Glenn Columbus International Airport, the “first U.S. airport with live, commercially available 5G Ultra Wideband service,” as well as Cleveland’s Progressive Field football stadium and multiple shopping centers in Virginia.
But that figure needs caveats. As we’ve noted before, while 5G certainly delivers blazingly fast speeds, actual coverage is spotty and Verizon’s network is no exception. This is partly because the millimeter wave technology used to create America’s 5G networks doesn’t travel as easily as other methods.
In August, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg suggested the carrier would offer 5G service across 50% of U.S. land in 2020, a dramatic expansion made possible by dynamic spectrum sharing. This uses existing 4G mid-band towers to deliver both 4G and 5G service as demanded by devices. It’s unclear at this point how fast Verizon’s mid-band 5G service will be, but the carrier subsequently warned that it might “approximate to a good 4G service” in performance. New 5G devices beyond the seven currently offered by the carrier will likely be needed to access its combined mid- and high-band network assets.
