Verizon will test 5G service in 11 cities by mid-2017 as a replacement for home or office broadband
Roger Cheng / CNET :
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon's 2015 plan to test a 5G network running 30-50 times faster than 4G was framed around eventual limited commercial roll-out; today's news is that step becoming concrete, with field trials in 11 cities aimed squarely at replacing wired home and office broadband rather than phone service.
That framing matters because it puts Verizon's millimeter-wave build on a collision course with cable incumbents' residential base — and the corpus shows the company already planning the bundle on top: Bloomberg reported Verizon seeking a TV partner in Google or Apple for its first 5G home launches.
First-order effects
- Households and offices in the 11 trial cities become the first test population for broadband delivered entirely over wireless, with Verizon using them to prove reliability before any commercial commitment.
- Cable and DSL providers in those markets face a direct competitor whose last-mile cost is a radio instead of a trench.
Second-order effects
- If the trials hold, Verizon needs content to sell alongside the pipe — hence the reported outreach to Google and Apple for a TV service tied to the first 5G home launches in LA and Sacramento.
- Rival carriers face pressure to accelerate their own fixed-wireless programs or cede the 'wireless replaces wire' pitch to Verizon first.
Third-order effects
- The pattern did hold far enough to reach market: Verizon launched 5G home broadband commercially in Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento at $50/month after a free trial, validating the trial-city model as a launch template.
- Longer-term, the structure points toward broadband markets segmented by whether a carrier offers fixed wireless — visible in Verizon's later move to expand 4G-based home internet across 48 states only where it lacks other broadband options, using wireless to fill gaps wired networks don't reach.
The trend: Fixed-wireless access is moving from operator field trials to a commercial substitute for wired home broadband, with carrier trial-city cadence setting the pace.