Verizon's 5G fixed wireless internet for business expands to five more cities

3 years ago 366

The addition of Gresham, Oregon; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Nashville, Tennessee brings the number of cities with access to 47.

Verizon has announced the expansion of its 5G Business Internet service to five new locations: Gresham, Oregon; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansa; and Nashville, Tennessee join 42 other cities that now offer the fixed wireless internet product.

Fixed wireless internet is just what it sounds like: It's home (or business, in Verizon's case) internet service that, instead of connecting your house to a network of cables, connects your home to Verizon's 5G cellular data network. Verizon isn't the only company to offer FWI: T-Mobile also offers fixed 5G internet, but it targets its product primarily to consumers.

"The expansion of 5G Business Internet is ahead of schedule, and we will continue to add availability in new cities throughout the year, but this is just the start. The upcoming deployment of our new spectrum assets will be a major catalyst for 5G fixed-wireless growth," said Sampath Sowmyanarayan, Chief Revenue Officer of Verizon Business in a press release.

SEE: Edge computing adoption to increase through 2026; organizations cautious about adding 5G to the mix (TechRepublic Premium)

Verizon's 5G FWI uses its ultra wideband 5G connection, which is designed to be much faster than a standard 5G connection, but with a tradeoff of limited range. It's perfect for offices and homes, in other words.

Verizon is moving fast in expanding its 5G services: Only a few months ago in April, 21 new markets were added to its 5G Business Internet coverage map. In its announcement, Verizon said it plans to continue expanding as it "readies deployment of its recently acquired C-Band assets."

The C-band is additional signal bandwidth that exists between 3.7 and 3.98 GHz, and is designed to broaden 5G channels to improve access. In the beginning of 2021 a C-band auction for frequencies between the aforementioned GHz, which Forbes contributor Bob O'Donnell said are a fundamental part of the 5G networks of most countries in the world, except the United States.

"The good news for consumers and businesses is that the release and usage of these new frequencies should finally bring the dramatic shift in 5G performance for which we've all been waiting," O'Donnell said.

SEE: 5G: What it means for edge computing (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Verizon also announced a new 5G Business Internet package that bundles video and voice conferencing services along with internet. It includes BlueJeans Meetings by Verizon and one Verizon OneTalk line at the same price as regular 5G Business Internet service.

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