Verizon Makes Its Nationwide 5G Icon Official, Adds More mmW Cities

Alongside the iPhone 12 launch today, Verizon has announced that its nationwide 5G network is live. We told you this was happening yesterday, but it’s super official now. In addition to that bit of news, Verizon also announced several new 5G mmW cities.

As for what you need to know here, not much really. Verizon’s new nationwide 5G is their deployment of low-band 5G, which uses a technology called Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) that basically allows their current LTE network to double as a 5G network. In other words, it’s mostly just Verizon 4G LTE with a new 5G icon that won’t give you much of a (if any) boost in speeds or connectivity.

What’s the point then? Well, T-Mobile and AT&T both have nationwide 5G in the low-band, so it only makes sense that Verizon join them as all carriers work to create 5G super networks that involve a combination of low, mid, and high band 5G.

So again, your Verizon phone (assuming it’s equipped properly) may start showing a 5G icon soon. When it does, don’t expect much. The only time you’ll see much of a difference in your connection is if your phone says “5G UWB,” which is Verizon’s Ultra Wideband or 5G mmW network.

Speaking of that network, Verizon expanded 5G mmW (5G UWB) to 19 new cities. As is always the case with 5G mmW areas, it will be difficult for you to find a city block that has this type of connectivity. If you do, you’ll mostly need to be outside with a direct line of sight to a tower while on a supported phone to get a rock solid connection. 5G mmW mostly sucks.

Here are the new 5G mmW cities:

• Arlington, TX
• Las Vegas, NV
• San Francisco, CA
• Ann Arbor, MI
• Louisville, KY
• Sarasota, FL
• Anaheim, CA
• Milwaukee, WI
• St. Louis, MO
• Baltimore, MD
• Oklahoma City, OK
• Syracuse, NY
• Fort Wayne, IN
• Philadelphia, PA
• Tucson, AZ
• Hartford, CT
• Raleigh, NC
• Jersey City, NJ
• Richmond, VA

Alongside those 19 cities, Verizon says they’ve expanded to a number of new sports stadiums and airports, two places none of us go because we’re still living through a global pandemic. Great job, US leadership!

To check to see if you have Verizon 5G coverage, hit up this link.

// Verizon