Verizon to Offer Free Apple TV 4K in 5G Residential Broadband Package

[ThatGuyInLa]

Los Angeles eh? Well Verizon’s service along the I-5 in Burbank and Glendale is horrible. They lack towers making even the 4GLTE “myFi” useless. Unless they fix the tower issue, large tracks of some of the wealthiest areas of Burbank and Glendale are out of the picture.

 

[npmacuser5]

Verizon rode the low frequency bandwagon (profits) until the wheels started to fall off. What we have today with Verizon way behind others in numbers of cell towers. I am not betting on Verizon to deliver. Others already have a giant leap ahead in the last mile foot print.

 

[FelixDerKater]

This comes the day after Verizon jacked my FiOS bill by $50/mo. So long, VZ.

 

[Dekema2]

Meanwhile I'm looking at this in my living room...

 

[fairuz]

4G data usage already isn’t a problem (as used now). Data caps are not about usage. It’s a way to get money. There is plenty enough research that shows this.

So expect plenty of data caps (sorry AT&T, I mean ‘usage tiers’) with the new program.

The way it's used now is sparingly, because people don't want to go over their caps. Or some networks offer unlimited data, but it's bad service.

Anyway, it's irrelevant because this new service described here is home broadband over 5G, not cellular. The market is going to be similar to the cable home broadband, so I'd expect it to have similar pricing schemes.
[doublepost=1534364329][/doublepost]

I'm optimistic from the technology standpoint... but I'm not optimistic from the business standpoint.

You're right... 5G can handle a lot more bandwidth than 4G. But if we've learned anything from the carriers... they love to nickle-n-dime in every way possible.

I'm guessing the carriers will invent some new way to overcharge for data on 5G...

The same companies' home broadband pricing is pretty fair, and it's usually basically unlimited. Just because it uses 5G doesn't mean it's the same as a cell plan.
[doublepost=1534364451][/doublepost]

Los Angeles eh? Well Verizon’s service along the I-5 in Burbank and Glendale is horrible. They lack towers making even the 4GLTE “myFi” useless. Unless they fix the tower issue, large tracks of some of the wealthiest areas of Burbank and Glendale are out of the picture.

They also shut down FiOS where I lived in LA, and now that area is stuck with much worse service from Spectrum and CenturyLink. But at least there's still the best lahmajoun over there.

 

[907]

i still dont get the hype around 5G. what does it do??

It lets you go over your data cap even faster than with LTE.

 

[fairuz]

Meanwhile I'm looking at this in my living room...

I find those to be ironically better than the Apple TV for watching TV shows because you just turn it on, and you instantly have a show on and can instantly change channels with one button press. Except they've somehow been getting worse over time, with more and more lag in newer models.

 

[Michael Scrip]

The same companies' home broadband pricing is pretty fair, and it's usually basically unlimited.

Are you talking about FIOS fiber pricing?

Or the upcoming 5G wireless pricing?

Just because it uses 5G doesn't mean it's the same as a cell plan.

But it's the same tech.

If they don't put data caps on future 5G at home... they better not put data caps on my future 5G cell phone.

It's gonna be difficult to explain to people why using Verizon 5G on a home computer is different than using Verizon 5G on a mobile phone.

 

[jimothyGator]

Are you talking about FIOS fiber pricing?

Or the upcoming 5G wireless pricing?



But it's the same tech.

If they don't put data caps on future 5G at home... they better not put data caps on my future 5G cell phone.

It's gonna be difficult to explain to people why using Verizon 5G on a home computer is different than using Verizon 5G on a mobile phone.

It’s not necessarily the same tech. Home broadband will likely use more, smaller, and shorter wavelength 5G cell sites. Shorter wavelengths (higher frequency) offer higher bandwidth, but shorter range. Instead of laying fiber or copper to individual homes, Verizon can put some cell sites to serve a neighborhood or couple of blocks with home internet service.

5G sites intended for phone service will be taller, lower frequency, and will need to cover a wider area and number of devices at a time.

But even if there were no technological differences, there’s no reason they would have the same data caps for home vs phone 5G access based on competition and markets. Caps for phone plans are around 20GB. Caps for home internet (cable, fiber, DSL) are around 1TB. If Verizon offered home 5G with a 20GB cap, no one would subscribe because that’s not what the market demands, and where there is completion, there are better offerings.

Likewise, Verizon wouldn’t need to offer phone plans with a 1TB data cap, because their service would suffer and since no competitors offer anything approaching that (yet), they don’t have a need to invest the billions necessary to make such a cap feasible.

 

[Michael Scrip]

It’s not necessarily the same tech. Home broadband will likely use more, smaller, and shorter wavelength 5G cell sites. Shorter wavelengths (higher frequency) offer higher bandwidth, but shorter range. Instead of laying fiber or copper to individual homes, Verizon can put some cell sites to serve a neighborhood or couple of blocks with home internet service.

5G sites intended for phone service will be taller, lower frequency, and will need to cover a wider area and number of devices at a time.

But even if there were no technological differences, there’s no reason they would have the same data caps for home vs phone 5G access based on competition and markets. Caps for phone plans are around 20GB. Caps for home internet (cable, fiber, DSL) are around 1TB. If Verizon offered home 5G with a 20GB cap, no one would subscribe because that’s not what the market demands, and where there is completion, there are better offerings.

Likewise, Verizon wouldn’t need to offer phone plans with a 1TB data cap, because their service would suffer and since no competitors offer anything approaching that (yet), they don’t have a need to invest the billions necessary to make such a cap feasible.

Gotcha... thanks!

It'll be interesting to see how they handle the marketing.

Maybe they'll call it "Home 5G" and "Mobile 5G"

 

[I7guy]

Don’t know what the towers look like or how Verizon is going to install more of them.

Forget 5g, I’d be happy with decent cell service at my house with 4g.

 

[v3rlon]

The way it's used now is sparingly, because people don't want to go over their caps. Or some networks offer unlimited data, but it's bad service.

Anyway, it's irrelevant because this new service described here is home broadband over 5G, not cellular. The market is going to be similar to the cable home broadband, so I'd expect it to have similar pricing schemes.
[doublepost=1534364329][/doublepost]
The same companies' home broadband pricing is pretty fair, and it's usually basically unlimited. Just because it uses 5G doesn't mean it's the same as a cell plan.

Well, home plans can have data caps (sorry AT&T, usage tiers) also:
https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/1/8528671/verizon-warns-unlimited-data-customer-to-stop-using-data
http://time.com/money/4353512/att-home-internet-data-caps/
https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/6/13192832/comcast-xfinity-home-internet-data-caps-one-terabyte


or just here
https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/which-internet-service-providers-have-data-caps/

And we are talking about the company that throttled the fire department while they were fighting the worst fire in California history AFTER they were told that it was the fire department and AFTER they were told that it was impeding their ability to fight said fire and AFTER the billing cycle rolled over (when throttling should have ended) and AFTER doing the same thing back in December. So no, I do not expect them to offer anything less than extortion if they think they can get away with it.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...eds-during-wildfire-response-updated.2133474/

 

[fairuz]

Well, home plans can have data caps (sorry AT&T, usage tiers) also:
https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/1/8528671/verizon-warns-unlimited-data-customer-to-stop-using-data
http://time.com/money/4353512/att-home-internet-data-caps/
https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/6/13192832/comcast-xfinity-home-internet-data-caps-one-terabyte


or just here
https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/which-internet-service-providers-have-data-caps/

And we are talking about the company that throttled the fire department while they were fighting the worst fire in California history AFTER they were told that it was the fire department and AFTER they were told that it was impeding their ability to fight said fire and AFTER the billing cycle rolled over (when throttling should have ended) and AFTER doing the same thing back in December. So no, I do not expect them to offer anything less than extortion if they think they can get away with it.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...eds-during-wildfire-response-updated.2133474/

I know there are data caps on home ISPs. I read the fine print whenever I get a plan, and the cap is always so high that nobody would reasonably reach it. Like 1 terabyte on most, or something proportionally less on a slower connection. It's not like the cell plans where you can reach the throttling point without trying too hard.

BTW Verizon has a home internet service too. I used to have it. They offered the best prices in the area, and more importantly, their service was more reliable than what I've seen from the others.

 

[v3rlon]

I know there are data caps on home ISPs. I read the fine print whenever I get a plan, and the cap is always so high that nobody would reasonably reach it. Like 1 terabyte on most, or something proportionally less on a slower connection. It's not like the cell plans where you can reach the throttling point without trying too hard.

BTW Verizon has a home internet service too. I used to have it. They offered the best prices in the area, and more importantly, their service was more reliable than what I've seen from the others.

Yes, I am aware Verizon offers home internet service. It was the first link I referenced.

And just because you do not know anyone that hits a cap doesn't mean that it works for everyone. Lots of us have other needs. Streaming 4K video, transferring large data sets to the cloud and back, and so on.

And it isn't like the companies NEED data caps. It is a money grab. (here is a source https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...are-cash-grab-not-engineering-necessity.shtml

And an extra one
https://www.cio.com/article/3075975...ps-dont-want-you-to-know-about-data-caps.html )


You are also assuming that the company that monitors your data usage, the company that has absolutely no incentive to double check if their equipment says you go over, is giving you accurate data. Here is a customer that wound up in a long fight over faulty readings.

https://arstechnica.com/information...sts-data-cap-nation-can-the-meter-be-trusted/

Here is another

https://arstechnica.com/information...r-blunder-charges-wrong-customer-for-overage/

So again, good enough for you and you being happy with your experience doesn't mean that it works for the world. "Nobody could reasonably reach it" is just not true. A cord-cutting household with a few kids can do it. Hell, I have ran over a TB a couple of times and that is not using Torrents at all. Fortunately, I do not have a data cap. Doubly so because I do not have a choice of providers. If you do the math, and you have the highest speed connection in your area, you can probably hit that cap in 4 days if you try hard.

 

[fairuz]

Yes, I am aware Verizon offers home internet service. It was the first link I referenced.

And just because you do not know anyone that hits a cap doesn't mean that it works for everyone. Lots of us have other needs. Streaming 4K video, transferring large data sets to the cloud and back, and so on.

And it isn't like the companies NEED data caps. It is a money grab. (here is a source https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...are-cash-grab-not-engineering-necessity.shtml

And an extra one
https://www.cio.com/article/3075975...ps-dont-want-you-to-know-about-data-caps.html )


You are also assuming that the company that monitors your data usage, the company that has absolutely no incentive to double check if their equipment says you go over, is giving you accurate data. Here is a customer that wound up in a long fight over faulty readings.

https://arstechnica.com/information...sts-data-cap-nation-can-the-meter-be-trusted/

Here is another

https://arstechnica.com/information...r-blunder-charges-wrong-customer-for-overage/

So again, good enough for you and you being happy with your experience doesn't mean that it works for the world. "Nobody could reasonably reach it" is just not true. A cord-cutting household with a few kids can do it. Hell, I have ran over a TB a couple of times and that is not using Torrents at all. Fortunately, I do not have a data cap. Doubly so because I do not have a choice of providers. If you do the math, and you have the highest speed connection in your area, you can probably hit that cap in 4 days if you try hard.

Even if you're watching 4K TV, you have to watch 146 hours to reach 1TiB. It's unlikely. I'm a pretty heavy user myself, 22 years old so in that gen-Z group, with lots of friends on shared college housing setups who overuse the Internet and pirate tons of stuff, and I've never heard of anyone going over a home ISP limit. Nor does anyone worry about it.

 

[Dekema2]

I find those to be ironically better than the Apple TV for watching TV shows because you just turn it on, and you instantly have a show on and can instantly change channels with one button press. Except they've somehow been getting worse over time, with more and more lag in newer models.

That's likely because the coax cable goes right to the box. I wonder if an Apple TV having coax would result in decreased latency.

 

[fairuz]

That's likely because the coax cable goes right to the box. I wonder if an Apple TV having coax would result in decreased latency.

I don't think it would. Cable boxes are very specialized compared to ATV, probably using hardware for lots of things an ATV would just define in software.