Verizon Beefs Up 5G Speeds and Coverage: We Have the First Test Results
Ultra wideband is going wider. Verizon announced today that it's launching its "ultra wideband" C-band 5G in 30 more metro areas using up to 100MHz of airwaves—more than the existing system we tested on our Best Mobile Networks run.
The system works with existing C-band-compatible phones and Verizon users are already seeing results. PCMag reader Tyler Piercy in Louisville tipped us off on Friday to 100MHz C-band on both his Samsung Galaxy S21 and iPhone 12, which delivered speeds up to 1,235Mbps down and 142Mbps up in results he shared with PCMag.
That was at a distance of about a quarter-mile from the cell site, Piercy noted. Back in January, I noted that Verizon's C-band cells in New York have a range of about a third of a mile, but that the technology will be able to go further in less dense cities.
"It's important to remember I was line-of-site from a macro and while these results are obviously great, nobody should really expect 920Mpbs average right now on C-band spectrum," he noted.
Speed is proxy for capacity; a gig for the only person on the sector means 100Mbps for 10 people, and that gives Verizon the ability to offer wireless home internet in cities where it doesn't have its Fios fiber network laid down.
The system isn't being flipped on instantly everywhere, Verizon notes; in some areas it may take months. We'll probably test it later this summer.
The 30 new zones are named for cities, but they aren't really metro areas. They're "primary economic areas" (PEAs) defined by the FCC. As this map from Spectrum Omega(Opens in a new window) shows, they're bigger than what you'd think a metro area is; for example, the Baltimore-Washington PEA includes half of the rural Eastern Shore of Maryland.
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