Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Verizon 5G home internet service: Coverage, speeds, and plans

By

The major 5G carriers are all rolling out 5G, and Verizon was arguably the first to start doing so. It started with pockets of mmWave coverage in some major cities and has since adopted Sub-6 coverage for its nationwide 5G network. But the carrier was also the first to roll out another 5G-related service: 5G home internet.

Setting up 5G home internet basically involves getting a new kind of router that gets its service from 5G instead of from a cable and then converts that signal into a Wi-Fi network for your home devices. As mentioned, Verizon was among the first to roll out such a service.

Recommended Videos

Interested in taking advantage of the potential increased download speeds that 5G could offer for your home? Here’s everything you need to know about Verizon’s 5G home internet service.

Related

Verizon 5G home internet plans

On mobile, there are a number of different 5G plans that you could subscribe to — but it’s a little different when it comes to home internet. The Verizon 5G plan actually offers only one 5G home internet option, so the decision-making process is simple.

Verizon actually offers only one 5G home internet plan.

Traditionally, home internet plans are based on speeds — but that’s normally because you’re getting your internet through a cable, and internet service providers can better control and monitor the speeds that it’s delivering. With 5G-based home internet, things are a little different. Verizon touts its plan as delivering typical speeds of 300Mbps and reaching as high as gigabit speeds — but again, your real-world mileage may vary radically. Verizon seems to be offering the plan only in areas with relatively strong connectivity, so while that limits how many people can take advantage of it, it also means that users who do get access should achieve solid speeds.

The plan offers some perks other than simply getting decent internet speeds. For example, you’ll get a year of Discovery+, and Verizon gives users a free TV streaming box, which supports most major streaming services like Netflix and HBO Max.

While the plan itself doesn’t change, the price of the plan can — and it depends on whether you use Verizon for your phone plan. With a phone plan that costs $30 or more, you’ll get Verizon 5G Home Internet for $50 per month. Without a Verizon phone plan, you’ll have to pay $70 per month.

Verizon 5G Home Internet Plans

Verizon 5G home internet coverage

As mentioned, Verizon seems to be approaching its 5G-based home internet service conservatively, seemingly to ensure a quality service. As such, it’s only available in a few cities — and even within those cities, you may not be eligible. Check out the full list of cities with Verizon 5G Home Internet service below, as of March 2021:

  • Phoenix, Arizona
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Orange County, California
  • Sacramento, California
  • San Francisco, California
  • San Jose, California
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Miami, Florida
  • Atlanta, Georgia
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Detroit, Michigan
  • Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • St. Paul, Minnesota
  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • Arlington, Texas
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Houston, Texas
  • Cleveland, Ohio
  • Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Louisville, Kentucky
  • Omaha, Nebraska
  • San Diego, California
  • Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Hartford, Connecticut
  • Kansas City
  • Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Tampa, Florida
  • Riverside, California
  • Memphis, Tennessee (Starting May 6)
  • San Antonio, Texas (Starting May 6)

You can check eligibility for your specific address at Verizon’s website.

Verizon 5G home internet service and speeds

It’s a little hard to predict just how fast your 5G home internet service will be. Verizon says users will get average speeds of 300Mbps and up to 1Gbps. But an average of 300Mbps does imply that some users will experience slower download speeds than that.

As Verizon continues to build out its 5G network, it’s likely that average 5G speeds will get better and that more customers will get access to the service.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Contributor
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
What is 5G UW? The real meaning behind the icon on your phone
Woman holding up smartphone with speed test results on Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network.

You've probably noticed that there's been much more hype around 5G than for any of the wireless technologies that came before. Some of that is just marketing, of course; we are living in an increasingly connected era, and there are far more people toting smartphones now than there were in 2012 when 4G/LTE was just beginning to go mainstream. However, it's also not an exaggeration to say that with considerably faster speeds and the ability to handle many more devices, 5G is a much bigger step into the next stage of global connectivity. You've also probably noticed it yourself with a "5G UW" icon at the top of your phone.

As with most new technologies, 5G comes with some new challenges for both carriers and consumers. One of the most significant of these has been working out the best way to deploy 5G services across the much wider range of frequencies that it's capable of operating on. This wasn't nearly as significant a problem in the days of 3G and 4G/LTE services, which all operated in a much narrower range of radio spectrum.

Read more
What is 5G? Speeds, coverage, comparisons, and more
The 5G UW icon on the Samsung Galaxy S23.

It's been years in the making, but 5G — the next big chapter in wireless technology — is finally approaching the mainstream. While we haven't yet reached the point where it's available everywhere, nearly all of the best smartphones are 5G-capable these days, and you're far more likely to see a 5G icon lit up on your phone than not.

There's more to 5G than just a fancy new number, though. The technology has been considerably more complicated for carriers to roll out since it covers a much wider range of frequencies than older 4G/LTE technology, with different trade-offs for each. It's also a much farther-reaching wireless technology, promising the kind of global connectivity that was once merely a dream found in futuristic sci-fi novels.

Read more
What is 5G UC? Here’s what that icon on your phone really means
5G logo on the Motorola Edge (2022).

If you own a 5G-capable smartphone — which are all of the best phones today — there’s a good chance you’ve seen different 5G network icons showing up in your status bar. It’s a stark contrast to the pre-5G days when your phone showed “4G” or “LTE” no matter where you went.

It can get a bit confusing to see a 5G indicator one moment and then “5G UC” or “5G UW” the next. It’s not something you need to worry too much about, as you don’t usually have much control over it, but it’s still helpful to understand what these different symbols mean — and why they matter.
The humble beginnings of 5G

Read more