Verizon 5G Home Expansion Delayed Again Over Equipment Issue

The expansion of Verizon's 5G Home Internet service has been delayed until at least the second half of the year, according to a new report. The wireless carrier is waiting on new equipment that will not be available until later this year, though the company still anticipates eventually offering its wireless home Internet service to millions of people in the United States.

Verizon 5G Home was first announced in late 2018; with this service, which is currently available in a handful of locations, consumers get fast home Internet service using the carrier's 5G network. Verizon is currently offering 5G Home with a free three-month trial of the service, as well as without contracts. The plan costs $50/month, assuming you have the right Verizon Wireless mobile plan.

Relatively few people can actually sign up for the plan at this time, however, and that won't be changing any time soon. According to Light Reading, a Verizon executive confirmed that while the company still plans to make its 5G Home available to around 30 million people, it won't be more broadly deploying the service until new equipment becomes available in the latter half of 2020.

Details were reportedly given during an investor conference at Citi 2020 Global TMT West earlier this week. The equipment that'll arrive later this year will be 'key' to expanding the Verizon 5G Home coverage area, though it will be a handful of years before the company is offering its service to the millions of people it anticipates covering.

The first iteration of Verizon 5G Home introduced in late 2018 used the carrier's 5G TF technology instead of the 5G NR standard. The company changed that when it essentially relaunched the 5G Home service in Chicago last year. The company had said there would be a delay in expanding the service last year because it was waiting for equipment, the same explanation we're hearing this time around.