Verizon's Fixed 5G: A Cable Alternative Is Coming!Verizon's Fixed 5G: A Cable Alternative Is Coming!

Verizon's latest video about its deployment of millimeter wave fixed wireless access 5G demonstates Verizon's intentions with its 5G network: taking on cable.

Nobody actually says it in the video, but the service is clearly nearly ready to be offered as an alternative to competitor's cable. Verizon shows off the 28GHz system serving gigabit -- or near gigabit -- speeds to apartment buildings, through windows and walls. (See Verizon's Fixed 5G: Are You Ready for the Wireless Gig Rush?)

Verizon uses a window or roof-mounted 28GHz antenna to grab the 5G signal, which is distributed via WiFi from a home router indoors. This is why the video briefly references walls, glass and folliage; Verizon wants to illustrate that ongoing concerns about 5G's in-building penetration are not really a issue. (See Nokia Bell Labs & Verizon Stretch Fixed 5G to the Home and Could 5G Have Found Its Glass Ceiling?)

Verizon intends to deploy the fixed wireless 5G in up to five markets by the end of 2018. Los Angeles and Sacramento, Calif., are the only named markets so far. Exactly where it will be deployed in each market and what Verizon will charge isn't known yet. (See 5G in the USA: A Post-BCE Update.)

If the 5G offering takes off, however, expect the company to start to really put the pedal to the metal in 2019.

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading