Verizon delays its '5G Home' Wi-Fi service rollout to the second half of 2020

Polycount

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In context: One of Verizon's most notable steps into the 5G arena had nothing to do with cellular data and instead centered around home Wi-Fi connectivity. The service, called "5G Home," launched back in October of 2018 in four US cities. It promises average download speeds of 300Mbps and peak speeds of 1Gbps for $70 a month ($50 for Verizon customers).

Whether you qualify for the extra deal or not, $70 for 300Mbps or more is a decent deal. For similar speeds in my own city, you can usually expect to pay upwards of $100 (from a different ISP, of course), which is far more outlandish.

Unfortunately, as we said before, 5G Home was only available in four cities on launch, and in the year (and change) since then, the situation hasn't changed much. Only one additional city has been added to the list, which now consists of Houston, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Chicago, and Indianapolis. In other words, 5G Home's rollout has been almost entirely dormant.

According to a report from Light Reading, the service's expansion will remain dormant for a bit longer -- over 6 more months, to be precise. Verizon is apparently "waiting for new equipment" before it can expand 5G Home's availability any further, and that equipment isn't expected to arrive until the second half of 2020.

This news might come as a bit of a disappointment to anyone who's been waiting their chance to sign up for 5G Home since it was announced, but hopefully, things ramp up significantly later this year.

Verizon's previously-stated goal of reaching "30 million American households" with 5G Home is still in effect, though it might take "five to seven years" for the ISP to reach that milestone. That's a significant period of time, but it could represent more progress than Google is making with its slowly-expanding Fiber service.

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