For the past 18 months, all of my work-from-home and personal Internet use has been going over the Verizon 5G ultra-wideband network. And I really haven’t noticed any change at all compared to my traditional cable-based ISP (Cox).
Well, that’s not entirely true. I have noticed the difference in my bank account. I was paying about $110 a month for cable Internet, but this new Verizon 5G home Internet only costs about $25 a month (now, it is either $35 or $45 per month). When I signed up, it happened to come with a $25-a-month bill credit for the home internet service plus two phone lines. It may be more accurate to say it is free.
Service
When I first received the wireless modem router, I unboxed it and set it up. It didn’t quite work. I ran into numerous problems trying to activate it on the Verizon network. I don’t know what was wrong. I called Verizon and worked with them, and after a few days of leaving it alone (not at their direction, I was busy with other things), it was online.
The box is a small, white box that plugs into power, and that is it. It offers WiFi and a web-based management interface. It has two ethernet ports on the back if you want a hardwired connection. I used these to connect to my Asus Mesh WiFi routers, which switched into AP mode so that all my devices are on one big network, regardless of what WiFi network they connect to. [As a side note, I also used the opportunity to buy some MoCA adapters, which are much faster and more reliable than previously, so I could hard-wire the backhaul between the Verizon router and the two mesh nodes.]
Within the first few months, I had a few hiccups where the device would randomly reboot itself. Most of the time, it wasn’t an issue because it would be back online within two or three minutes — except for one occasion during a Teams call with my boss. Go figure.
After that, however, the service has been nearly flawless. Since I cut the cord from Cox and switched to Verizon 5G home Internet as my only Internet service provider, I’ve had one time where the modem rebooted itself during the daytime when we were using it.
Speeds
My service level is 300 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up. I have yet to notice when I’m getting noticeably slower speeds. It is to my advantage that I live about 600′ away from a Verizon tower. And while I would like faster speeds, getting the promised speeds almost always means I’m not having any issues with slow downloads or buffering. I only noticed that my speeds were slower than cable when I downloaded a big software update from Microsoft or Apple. Otherwise, it is smooth sailing – Teams meeting after meeting, Bluey episode after Bluey episode.
Verizon can deliver these sorts of speeds on a day-in-day-out basis because of the new spectrum acquired in the C-Band auction. The final tranche of that spectrum was released in August 2023, and Verizon and AT&T were able to unlock huge chunks of spectrum to provide users with high speeds.
The best part is that Verizon 5G Home service doesn’t have any monthly transfer caps or penalties for data overages. Before I cut the cable cord, I was subject to a 1.25TB/mo data cap, and it would be $50/mo additionally to have “unlimited” data.
Tech Support
The good news is that besides the initial setup, I have not needed any support from Verizon. Speeds are strong, and the service is reliable.
Price
As I mentioned above, I’m paying $25 per month, and with a $25 bill credit, it is effectively free. The bill credit will run out after two years, and there is a price lock guarantee. It is hard to beat the value per dollar. Right now, I believe the same service as a new customer would cost $35 or $45.
Some users may be able to access higher speeds if they live near a tower enabled with mmWave equipment (speeds closer to 1Gbps).
Bottom Line
If you live near a Verizon 5G tower with C-Band spectrum deployed and you get good speeds on your Verizon 5G C-Band enabled phone, check it out and see if your location qualifies and toss that overpriced cable service. I strongly recommend the service if you can get it and have good signal. Given the current service level and pricing, I won’t be leaving my Verizon 5G Home internet until the Fiber-to-the-Home salesman comes knocking on my door.