An Honest Verizon 5G Home Internet Review, According to Customers

The three customers I spoke with were mostly positive about their experiences with Verizon 5G.

“I like how it gives us fast speeds without a video throttle cap, so we can watch 4K shows,” said Johnothy Michael, who works in IT and accounting in Robinson, Illinois. Michael previously had T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for a few years before switching to Verizon 5G in the summer of 2023.

“It was OK,” Michael said of T-Mobile, “but Verizon was cheaper on our phone bill each month and a more stable service.

“In comparison, T-Mobile Home Internet is always subject to deprioritization. Verizon is not,” he added, referring to T-Mobile’s policy of putting internet customers last.

Clare Messink, a teacher in Salt Lake City, Utah, said she feels her Verizon 5G service is good but a little expensive at $50 a month with AutoPay—at least compared to what she’s used to. “I moved back to the States last June after being overseas for a long time,” she says. Home internet was a lot cheaper in Thailand and Argentina, where she previously lived.

“I sort of feel like, ‘Man, this should be $25 a month,’” Messink said. “But also the last time I paid for home internet in this country, it probably was $25 a month.”

Happily, Messink at least feels that she gets what she pays for. She doesn’t use her internet to play games online or work from home. She mostly uses it for streaming and basic home use, and her service works so well for those tasks that she’s never had to deal with a router blip, much less a full-scale outage. “It was an affordable option, and I've had zero problems with it,” she says.

New Verizon 5G customer Angelo Ilumba had to replace his fiber service when he moved to rural California. Although he doesn’t get fast fiber speeds anymore, he’s still happy with his new setup. Ilumba works remotely as a writer, so he needs solid, fast internet service. So far, Verizon 5G has delivered. The plan’s download speed cap is supposed to be 300Mbps, and he often gets download speeds right in that range—and sometimes faster. “Speeds are pretty consistent,” he says.

Neither Michael nor Messink had complaints about Verizon customer service. Messink says that because her 5G system is so reliable, she hasn’t communicated with Verizon since picking up her equipment. Ilumba hasn’t interacted with customer service at all—he signed up for Verizon 5G online, installed it himself when it arrived, and hasn’t had to worry about any technical issues ever since.

5G doesn’t cause COVID. Or cancer. Or radio pollution. But what does it do, especially when it comes to the internet?

5G stands for fifth-generation, as in fifth-generation cellular network technology. It does basically the same thing as the 4G LTE cellular technology that precedes it, sending data through radio waves and antennas. But it has increased bandwidth compared to 4G, because a lot of 5G spectrum operates on high-frequency bands that previously weren’t widely available for commercial use. This bandwidth allows 5G networks to transmit data at much faster speeds, with room to spare for supporting wireless internet connections.

Enter 5G home internet, specifically Verizon 5G Home Internet. Verizon’s 5G internet service connects your home wirelessly to the internet through its cellular network, similar to how it provides an internet connection to your smartphone. But because your home internet stays fixed to a specific location, you don’t have to worry about losing reception—although your speeds may fluctuate depending on the quality of cell service in your area and other factors.

Like T-Mobile does with its 5G internet service, Verizon has sought to shake up the internet business with competitive pricing. The provider in particular has emerged as a worthy alternative to cable internet—it may not be quite as reliable as cable, but does away with extra fees, price hikes, and other billing tricks that often raise the cost on cable plans.

"Transparency is key to a positive customer experience, so it's important that our pricing structure is clear and void of any hidden fees,” a Verizon spokesperson (who declined to be named for this article) tells us.

Overall, Verizon 5G Home Internet is simple and straightforward—no conspiracies here!

Verizon 5G Home Internet is theoretically available wherever the Verizon cellular network touches, which is across most of the country. However, you can’t actually get home internet service in all the places on the map.

The Verizon spokesperson was unable to clarify exactly where Verizon 5G internet can be found. But that’s okay—if you enter your zip code below, the Reviews.org address checker will tell you if you’re eligible. You can also take a look at this list of Verizon's to 5G cities.

Verizon 5G Home Internet is a price MVP compared to top internet providers.

Only Spectrum can compete with Verizon’s prices, and Spectrum doesn’t have that sweet five-year price guarantee. According to Verizon customer and Redditor BarrelDregs, Spectrum also doesn’t stand up against Verizon 5G: “I have Spectrum at my house. It’s terrible. It’s constantly getting worked on, and it always goes down during any storm with mild wind. So I’m glad I have my 5G device as a backup.”

Verizon also competes favorably in terms of download speed (its range is solidly in the middle), but it falls behind in upload speed. With Verizon 5G Home Internet, you can’t expect to get an upload speed above 50Mbps. That’s fine for most households—only serious content creators usually need a high upload speed. But it doesn’t look great compared to the symmetrical speeds offered by Google, AT&T, and Verizon’s own fiber offering, Fios.

If you’re primed to switch to Verizon 5G Home Internet, then you need to know if it’s available where you live. Search below to see if you can get it.