Verizon promises much better speeds and performance with its 5G Home Internet, providing an opportunity for more internet-bound tasks at once. If you want to learn more about its speeds, availability, cost, value, and more importantly, reliability, you’re in the right place.
I used this service for three weeks straight and will share my honest opinions on multiple aspects. This way, you can make an informed decision. So here I go!
Product Description: Verizon's 5G Home Internet came into the picture in 2018, and its availability surged when it unveiled its 5G Ultra wideband network in 2022. This made the 5G Internet accessible to most in the country.
Offer price: 50.00
Currency: USD
Short Review
The 5G Home Internet from Verizon is a great service with fast speeds, reliable uptime, and affordable pricing. I appreciate their flexibility with no contracts or data caps. Overall, it’s definitely worth it.
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Speed
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Availability
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Plans
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Reliability
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Support
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Cost vs Value
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Installation
Pros
- Straightforward pricing
- No contracts or data caps
- Faster download speeds
- Equipment is included in the cost
- Self-installable
Cons
- Uploads are a bit slow
- Speeds aren’t consistent over the coverage area
Contents
Verizon Home Internet User Reviews
Here’s what some of their existing users have to say about the service:
“Just switched to Verizon from a provider that had around 25 Mbps and now it soared up to 231 Mbps. Significant difference! Previously, I experienced lags when watching ESPN but it’s no more. Highly recommended!”
Carrie J
“Speeds change over locations, as support agent explained the reason being the Verizon Ultrawide band network is not available everywhere. They are working to expand its coverage. Overall, I’m quite satisfied.”
Patricia D
“The customer service is great. But I reside in a rural area and the connection is poor. I called Verizon several times but it hasn’t improved yet. They should look into it as soon as possible.”
Phillip W
“The Home 5G connection is treating us very well in the past few months. Three times it conked out and the customer support troubleshooted and got it back to work.”
Luis J
“Verizon’s 5G connection has no data cap, contracts, or equipment fee. I had to pay $10-15 with my previous provider. It saves a bit of my money. So far, so good.”
Paul M
“Gaming with the ultra-wideband network is great, and there aren’t many jitters in the gameplay. Overall, satisfied with the services.”
Rebecca W
Verizon Home Internet Plans & Prices
Plan | Download Speed | Upload Speed | Price | Data Cap |
---|---|---|---|---|
Verizon 5G Home | 85-300 Mbps | 10 Mbps | $50 | None |
Verizon 5G Home Plus | 300-1000 Mbps | 50 Mbps | $70 | None |
Detailed Review of Verizon 5G Home Internet
Having used major internet service providers in the US, I understand what’s good/bad with them. To determine if it’s worth an investment, I tested this with the equipment Verizon provides for three weeks. Here are my findings on different parameters:
Internet Speed
According to the internet provider, the 5G Home Plus plan can reach download speeds of up to 1 Gbps and an upload speed of 50 Mbps.
But there’s a catch.
The real-time speeds reach the value only when it’s on the ultra-wideband network, and stays around 300-350 Mbps on the nationwide network. So, your speeds might depend on where you’re located.
To give you a better idea, I conducted the test at my home where the ultra-wideband network is available. The maximum download and upload speeds peaked at 964 Mbps and 41 Mbps, respectively.
While at my friend’s home with the other, respective speeds were recorded at 248 Mbps and 11 Mbps.
Besides, the latency values for the respective network were 19ms and 41ms, respectively. So irrespective of where you are, any casual games, HD streams, video conferences, and others are feasible.
And the best part is, there’s no restriction on data usage, so you can exercise full autonomy over the internet you want.
Up Time (Reliability) & Performance
The aforementioned data reveals that Verizon’s 5G home internet delivers faster speeds for any of your gaming or streaming needs.
But just like that, consistency is also important. To find that out, I played online games on my PS4 and streamed 4K movies on my OnePlus smart TV for hours.
Without a doubt, the performance was above par connected to the ultra-wideband network, as latency stayed almost constant at 17-21ms, so games like Valorant and Destiny 2 turned out great.
On the other hand, the other network had an average value of 42-44ms, which caused minor lags and jitters, but still was capable of casual games like League of Legends.
Besides, both network handles simultaneous 4K streams, video calls, stock trades, and others equally well. So it’s important to identify the network in your area, and the tasks you perform over the internet, and determine if it suits your needs well.
Availability or Coverage
Operational for the last five years, Verizon 5G Home service managed to establish its presence in 35 cities. The list is as follows:
Anaheim, California | Arlington, Texas | Atlanta, Georgia | Charlotte, North Carolina |
Chicago, Illinois | Cincinnati, Ohio | Cleveland, Ohio | Dallas, Texas |
Denver, Colorado | Des Moines, Iowa | Detroit, Michigan | Hartford, Connecticut |
Houston, Texas | Indianapolis, Indiana | Kansas City, Missouri | Las Vegas, Nevada |
Los Angeles, California | Louisville, Kentucky | Memphis, Tennessee | Miami, Florida |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Omaha, Nebraska | Orange County, California |
Phoenix, Arizona | Riverside, California | Sacramento, California | Salt Lake City, Utah |
San Antonio, Texas | San Diego, California | San Francisco, California | San Jose, California |
St Louis, Missouri | St Paul, Minnesota | Tampa, Florida |
The above list shows the availability of Verizon 5G Internet in the largest metro regions of America, where the development of 5G infrastructure is at its peak.
This puts it on the same line with fiber internet found primarily in densely populated areas of the country, making the expansion more cost-effective.
But deploying new cell towers and upgrading existing ones is more facile than wiring an entire region, so you can expect a speedier deployment of 5G internet than cable, fiber, or other modes of internet.
Verizon Home Internet Outages & Uptime
Verizon portrays itself as a reliable service provider that gives utmost importance to stability and reliability.
To test the claims, I used a TP-Link Archer AXE75 router to measure the connection, and every time it goes down it records that and records when it comes back up again.
The logs show that the network goes down once a day for about 13 seconds. I believe that’s when it’s renewing the IP address, and after the firmware update, it happens once every two days.
This sums up to an uptime of 99.9925%, around 3 minutes and 17 seconds of downtime every month. This doesn’t seem much but can be very annoying if you’re in a meeting or the middle of a game.
My test resonates with customer feedback where they claim the internet stays down for a few seconds regularly. So, Verizon should take the necessary actions to fix it.
Pricing & Other Costs
Verizon has established a smart yet transparent pricing policy for its customers, where the monthly bill includes plan charges and taxes and waives any additional equipment fee as you pay for most providers.
Other than that, there aren’t any early termination fees or service contracts. So you can swiftly switch to another provider without fearing any penalties.
The 5G Home Internet doesn’t follow a bait-and-switch pricing policy so you won’t see any sudden surge in bills after 12 months.
How does it compare to major internet providers like AT&T and CenturyLink? Well, Verizon’s plans are more affordable compared to both. The prices of CenturyLink are subject to change once initial promotional offers expire, while AT&T comes with potential installation fees, hidden fees, and complex payment tiers.
Installation & Setup
Similar to installing FiOS connection, setting up Verizon home is a breeze. It comes with a plug-and-play setup and saves you money calling upon an expensive technician or worrying about numerous wires passing through your house.
You just need your smartphone and a self-install kit alongside the ‘My Verizon’ app. The self-install kit includes a Verizon 5G gateway, ethernet cable, power adapter, and a quick start guide.
Verizon Home Internet Customer Service
I had an interaction with them when my gateway wasn’t working as intended. They sent a technician the next day and returned it to the pavilion very soon.
Verizon customer support can be contacted in two ways: live chat on My Verizon app and call. To message the agent, open the app and tap the account tab, where find the “manage device” option, and click on it.
Then from the “information & support” section, click on tech coach support, and ask a question. Or you can just call on 800-922-0204 to connect with them directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Considering the speeds, the area it covers, and its transparent pricing strategy excluding any additional or hidden costs make it a good internet service provider. But Verizon should work on expanding its ultra-wideband network for much better speeds.
Yes, irrespective of the plans, Verizon offers unlimited data to its customers.
Verizon 5G home internet has two plans on offer: Verizon 5G Home and Verizon 5G Home Plus which comes at a monthly fee of $50 and $70, respectively.
If you’re subscribed to the 5G Home Plus plan, and connected to the Ultra-wideband network, feel free to play any high-end online games like Valorant, RDR2, Destiny 2, and others. Casual games are also playable on a nationwide network but isn’t possible with the basic 5G Home plan.
Conclusion
On paper, Verizon 5G internet doesn’t give much scope to criticize. It offers some outstanding terms and the speeds even match your cable or fiber connection. Besides, its transparent pricing policy appalled me much.
However, there is some room for improvement over time as the 5G network expands. Will see you in a similar piece. Till then, goodbye and take care!
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