Verizon rolled out its C-Band network today, which acts as a mid-band layer for its 5G network. Promising faster speeds than low-band, and better coverage than mmWave. Basically, acting like the best of both worlds.
The carrier has not yet announced which markets it is available in, but we do know it’s available in quite a few, based on the r/Verizon subreddit. And the initial speed tests were seeing are quite good.
Typically when you look at that subreddit, there are a lot of questions about accounts, and devices. Today, it is all speed tests, and it’s not hard to see why.
Speeds are a good middle-ground between nationwide 5G and mmWave 5G
The speeds we are seeing on Reddit right now are typically between 400Mbps and around 800Mbps. There are some that are lower, likely in a much more dense area, so they aren’t seeing the full speed. Also, don’t forget that Speedtest.net and Fast.com are likely slammed today with speed tests from AT&T and Verizon customers testing out this new network.
The highest we’ve seen in this subreddit is just over a Gigabit, in Nashville at a Chick Fil A according to the user. Which is honestly quite impressive for C-Band. As Verizon states it should max out at about a Gigabit right now. That will obviously change in the future.
This is what 5G should have been when it launched in 2020. Instead, nationwide 5G was more like a slightly faster 4G LTE network, in only a few areas. In other areas, it was actually slower than 4G LTE. Which led a lot of people to turn off 5G and conserve the battery.
Unlike mmWave, C-Band will actually work indoors, which is what makes this such an important launch for Verizon, as well as AT&T. By the end of the year, it’ll be available in over 1,700 markets.
2022-01-20 15:08:12