Verizon 5G: When & Where You Can Get It

5G cities, speed, rollout plans, pricing, and more

By
Tim Fisher
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Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

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Updated on July 13, 2022
Reviewed by
Michael Barton Heine Jr
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Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr
Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries.
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Verizon was the first carrier to roll out 5G in the United States. The 5G plan, called Verizon 5G Home, is fixed wireless access (FWA) service for 5G at home only.

The other 5G offering from Verizon, which launched on April 3, 2019, is for mobile devices, meaning that 5G service works wherever there's 5G tower coverage.

Given that 5G is still in its early stages, FWA coverage isn’t nearly as widespread as 4G. In fact, only a small handful of US cities have access to Verizon’s 5G broadband service.

However, Verizon has made it clear that it plans to expand coverage of 5G Home and their mobile 5G service throughout 2022.

Verizon 5G Home Cities

Verizon 5G Home is available in over 900 cities across the United States. Some examples include Albuquerque, NM; Arlington, TX; Anaheim, CA; Ann Arbor, MI; Akron, OH; Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Cleveland, OH; Columbia, SC; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Des Moines, IA; Detroit, MI; Durham, NC; Fresno, CA; Greensboro, NC; Gresham, OR; Hartford, CT; Houston, TX; Indianapolis, IN; Kansas City, MO; and Las Vegas, NV.

Enter your address into the 5G Home website to see if your specific area is covered.

Verizon 5G Home Plan Details

What you pay for Verizon’s 5G Home plan depends on whether you turn on auto pay and which plan you choose. For example, 5G Home is as low as $25 /month with auto pay on select plans.

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Verizon

Here are some other features you get when you sign up for Verizon's at-home 5G service:

  • Unlimited data usage (no data caps)
  • No bandwidth throttling
  • 5G speeds ranging from 300 Mbps to 940 Mbps
  • No long-term contracts

According to this video from Verizon, one speed test shows a customer receiving a download speed of over 800 Mbps, over 400 Mbps for upload, and an 11 ms latency. These are results at, or better, than some of the fastest cable internet plans available anywhere.

How to Sign Up for Verizon 5G Home

You can buy Verizon 5G Home through the 5G Home Internet website. Enter your address on that page to confirm that you can receive service at that location. 

Part of the signup process includes scheduling a date and time for Verizon to come out to your house to make sure you’ll actually get 5G coverage where you are. If your coverage can be confirmed, they’ll install the necessary hardware and get you connected to their network.

During installation, you’ll get either an indoor or outdoor 5G receiver, depending on how strong the signal is. Verizon provides free Wi-Fi extenders to push the signal throughout your home if it’s too weak.

It could take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours to install Verizon's 5G home internet service. See Verizon 5G Home Internet Setup FAQs if you have more questions about installation in your home.

If Verizon 5G Home is available in your area but not at your specific address, it might be because there isn’t a direct line of sight between your house and Verizon’s closest 5G cell.

Verizon’s Mobile 5G Service

Initially, Verizon's 5G service was going to go live on April 11, 2019, but they launched it early on April 3, 2019.

As of early 2022, Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband is available in parts of 1,700 cities. Here are some earlier rollouts:

See Verizon's 5G coverage map for a closer look at the specific areas that have coverage.

5G Nationwide is available in over 2,700 cities, available to more than 230 million people.

Verizon's 5G service is available via several devices (see below) and works on all of their unlimited plans and prepaid plans.

According to Verizon, 5G service is truly unlimited, meaning that speeds aren't reduced during times of congestion. This is unlike the company's other unlimited plans where after 75 GB of usage, for example, data throttling goes into effect.

Verizon's 5G Phones

There are a variety of 5G phones that work on Verizon's network, including the iPhone 13, Samsung Galaxy S21, and Google Pixel 6.

Verizon 5G: Looking Forward

The high speeds and low latency of 5G service are poised to dramatically change a number of industries and potentially create some brand new ones. Verizon is investing in a number of areas where this new technology might have an outsized impact.

In November 2018, Verizon used their 5G technology to deliver a virtual reality experience to fans during a Sacramento Kings and LA Lakers basketball game.

Verizon had a 5G First Responders Lab built to test how 5G can improve public safety. They enabled 15 "emerging technologies with the power of 5G" in 2019.

The Verizon 5G Robotics Challenge aimed to have participants find ways 5G will influence the robotics industry. The lab was available to universities and startups in the Boston, MA, area, with winners receiving a $300,000 grant.

According to a Verizon 2019 Investor Meeting document, the company will also offer a 5G FWA service called 5G Office, an offshoot of 5G Home that's targeted at small businesses. Verizon is testing pricing options for 5G Office but there aren't any other details available right now.

For the 2020 Super Bowl, Verizon partnered with the NFL to create a multi-camera viewing feature and support for augmented reality overlays of stats and plays, for all Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband customers using the NFL OnePass app.

As of September 2019, Verizon's FWA 5G offering was based on the 5G TF (Verizon's 5G Technical Forum) standard, but the mobile 5G network and any future implementations of FWA, uses 5G NR (3GPP 5G New Radio).

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