Verizon 5G goes live in parts of New York City
It's also available in Boise and Panama City.
It took ages, but Verizon (Engadget's parent company) finally has 5G service available on its home turf. The carrier has switched on ultra-wideband 5G in "parts of" New York City that largely focus around heavily trafficked areas. In Manhattan, you'll find it in the Financial District, Harlem (including East Harlem), Hell's Kitchen, Midtown and Washington Heights. Brooklynites can find it downtown, while Bronx residents will find it in Fordham Heights, Hunt's Point and Pelham Bay. There are also pockets of 5G around major landmarks like Bryant Park, Madison Square Garden and the Theater District on Broadway.
Service is also going live in portions of Boise, Idaho and Panama City, Florida.
As with other ultra-wideband deployments, there are plenty of catches involved if you want a taste of 5G's gigabit-class speed and low lag. In addition to the incomplete coverage and dearth of devices, the very nature of millimeter wave access makes it finicky. It rarely ventures far indoors, and it doesn't take much interference to lose the connection and drop to LTE. You'll most likely be using 5G on the sidewalk rather than inside the coffee shop. It could take a long while before you can simply assume coverage is available, and it might only reach deep indoors as the technology spreads to lower frequencies.
