Verizon launched the first part of its commercial, mobile 5G network today in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis. Consumers can experience 5G service with the Motorola Moto z3 when used with the 5G Moto Mod accessory, which also goes on sale to the general public today. Verizon says early customers in Chicago and Minneapolis should expect typical download speeds of 450 Mbps, with peak speeds of nearly 1 Gbps, and latency less than 30 milliseconds. Verizon had originally announced April 11 as the launch date, but moved the launch up to today in order to beat Korea's SK Telecom to claim the "first commercial 5G network in the world that works with a 5G smartphone". SK Telecom just today announced its plans to launch commercial 5G on April 5th with the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. Verizon has announced plans to carry the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and LG V50 ThinQ phones, both of which have 5G fully integrated, but it appears SK Telecom will be the first to offer a phone with integrated 5G. Verizon's 5G service costs an extra $10/month. The company has announced plans to expand its 5G network to over 30 US cities this year. Verizon's 5G network launching today relies on the 28 GHz frequency band, which is considered mmWave. Such high frequencies have limited range and do not penetrate well indoors. Sprint plans to launch its 5G network — using much lower frequencies — starting next month, offering the LG V50 ThinQ. AT&T claims it launched its mmWave 5G network last year, but has yet to make compatible devices available to the general public. AT&T has promised to offer a 5G phone in the first half of 2019.


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