“The inconsistency in the coverage is going to make marketing Verizon 5G
Home next-level challenging, because pitches will have to be targeted
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Verizon, of course, counseled patience: “With our new equipment, customers
will have an even better 5G Home experience. Keep in mind, we’re only on day
3 with the new equipment and our new 5G Home markets. To ensure our
customers have the best experience, the website is currently being a bit
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performance improvements and the addition of new small cells will continue to
improve both coverage area and speeds,” a spokesman said.
A GREAT DEAL...BUT WHERE?
Verizon’s 5G Home relies on the same technology as its 5G mobile network,
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on whether they’re Verizon Wireless subscribers. Users can install the new
routers themselves, with no wires or external antennas needed. It’s a great
deal—if you can get it.
I was ready for disappointment going in. Verizon publishes 5G mobile coverage
maps showing that its service mostly courses along major arterial roads and
doesn’t reach onto the smaller, residential streets where people would really
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which Qualcomm said could work more than a half-mile from a 5G panel, would
help here.
But no dice. The most striking disappointment came when we looked at
Chicago’s wealthy, densely populated Lakeview neighborhood. Not only did
coverage not stretch beyond Verizon’s very limited mobile 5G map, but
addresses that appeared to be right on 5G corridors kept getting rejected. For
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LET’S GO TO THE MAPS
On all the maps below, the purple lines show where Verizon purports to have
mobile 5G coverage, taken from Verizon’s website. The black houses were said
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came up as eligible for 5G Home service.