Update: On April 25th, Verizon finally announced 20 of the cities that will get 5G this year. The original story continues below. Verizon finally offered some details about its 5G launch this morning: it plans to deploy the next-gen wireless technology in 30 cities by the end of 2019. The carrier didn’t say which cities those would be, how thoroughly 5G would be deployed throughout those cities, or when exactly the launch would begin, but Verizon did say that each launch would include some deployment of super fast millimeter wave radios. “It’s just gonna be a total different experience in speed and throughput than you have ever seen before,” Hans Vestberg, Verizon’s CEO, said during a meeting with investors this morning. Spokespeople for Verizon confirmed that the company is not yet identifying which cities the service will launch in. Verizon also specified that this would be real, standards-based 5G, not the off-brand 5G that Verizon used for its wireless home internet service. Otherwise, we’re still waiting on details from Verizon. The company promised to launch 5G early this year, but it’s yet to give any real specifics. Some details really ought to be coming soon, though: Verizon is the exclusive launch partner for Samsung’s Galaxy S10 5G. The phone is supposed to go on sale sometime “in the first half of 2019,” which gives Verizon just four months or so to get the first parts of its 5G network up and running. “It’s not too far away,” Vestberg said about the phone’s launch. “I want it tomorrow, but it’s not going to be tomorrow.” T-Mobile has also promised to launch 5G in 30 cities. AT&T’s 5G network is already live in 12 cities, though basically no one can use it. None of the carriers have launched a 5G phone yet, but that’s expected to happen in the next several months.
US telco Verizon has said it will launch "real, standards-based" 5G, rather than the off-brand tech used in its wireless home internet service, in 30 cities by the end of this year. However, the firm did not specify which locations, offer launch dates or reveal how comprehensively 5G would be rolled out. Rival carrier T-Mobile’s 5G network is currently live in 12 cities but unusable, while AT&T also plans to deploy its network across 30 locations.