Verizon Communications has selected Samsung Electronics as a major supplier of the wireless company’s forthcoming 5G wireless service, launching first in Sacramento, Calif., in the second half of this year.
Samsung will be a major vendor supplying Verizon and its customers in Sacramento with 5G equipment, including wireless modems and routers. In 11 other cities where Verizon is testing 5G service, Ericsson AB, another 5G network vendor, has supplied much of the equipment. Samsung is currently a small player in the 5G networking business, but hopes to ramp up its business and cross-promote its smartphones and tablets with future 5G users.
Verizon’s wireless customers in Sacramento will be the first to receive invitations to switch their home broadband accounts away from AT&T, Frontier, Wave Broadband and Comcast — the four largest incumbent providers in the greater Sacramento area. Verizon claims its 5G service can support speeds up to 1Gbps. Verizon has been testing 5G service in 11 U.S. cities, but has kept pricing details to itself. The issue of data caps has been repeatedly raised and most industry analysts predict Verizon will usage cap its 5G service at around 200GB a month. Whether the company plans to offer an unlimited use plan is unknown.
Kim Young-ky, president of Samsung’s networks business, told the Wall Street Journal that 5G is a reality and it will be much more than just an upgrade from 4G service.
“The average U.S. consumer uses about five gigabytes of mobile data a month,” said Kim. But after 5G becomes more ubiquitous in the next few years, he believes consumers will eventually use closer to 100GB monthly on new services such as virtual or augmented reality programs—or even from driverless cars, the newspaper added.
Kim expects the first 5G capable smartphones won’t appear until sometime in 2019, leaving 5G primarily as a wireless home broadband replacement during its initial rollout.
So basically, Verizon is bragging about being the first to supply a service, but have no phones available, nor will they for 1 to 2 years from now, that will work with the service.. Oh the irony..
Wireless home service is not about phones, it is about being an alternative whole home provider. The question is not about phones it more about can they compete with the “wired” carriers. The questions will be price, reliability, ease of use, and data cap comparison. I have a feeling in typical Verizon fashion they will start high and end up having to come more inline with the other carriers in the area. Look how late they were to the unlimited 2.0 party. It is kind of like trying to milk as much as you can on the latest greatest thing.… Read more »
I understand that. But when you consider that a lot of people use their phones for everything, and do not even have a computer.. Then they reply on cell service, not wifi.. But, as you said, the big thing is going to be about data caps and price.. Those will be the 2 biggest, because, no matter how you look at it, if it is not cheaper, or, have enough data usage to compete with landline, then they will not get any sales.. Right now, it cost $100 for only 18Gb.. Much more expensive then cables services, and you get… Read more »