At long last Verizon publishes its 5G coverage maps
T-Mobile CEO John Legere has recently been taking the mickey out of Verizon for its failure to publish a 5G coverage map. Verizon plans on sticking to its ultra-high-band mmWave spectrum to build its 5G network for now, but these signals don’t travel as far, or penetrate buildings as well as low and mid-range spectrum do. So Legere is insinuating that Verizon is lagging behind T-Mobile which plans on using a combination of low-band, mid-band, and mmWave signals. The nation’s third-largest carrier will be the first with a nationwide 5G network covering 200 million Americans on December 6th. On the other hand, Verizon says that slow and steady will win the race; mmWave signals have larger capacities and faster data speeds.
Because mmWave signals travel limited distances, the carrier’s strategy is to make 5G available in areas where people congregate. That includes sections of certain stadiums, another decision made by Verizon that has been mocked by Legere. Currently, Verizon customers who live in an area with 5G can take advantage of the faster signals as long as they own the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G ($1,299.99 or 36 monthly payments of $36.11), Samsung Galaxy S10 5G ($1,299.99 or 24 monthly payments of $54.16), LG V50 ThinQ 5G 24 monthly payments of $31.25), Moto Z4 (24 monthly payments of $20.83 +$349.99 for 5G Moto Mod) and the Moto Z3 (24 monthly payments of $20 + $349.99 for 5G Moto Mod).
By the end of the year, Verizon will have 30 cities covered by its 5G signals. 5G is the next generation of wireless connectivity and will deliver download data speeds 10 times faster than those available with a 4G LTE network. The faster data speeds will lead to wonderful new capabilities like self-driving cars; we also will see the creation of new industries and businesses that we cannot even dream of right now.