Verizon says the January 19 launch of 5G on its C-Band spectrum will bring fast wireless speeds to 100 million people in the US—far outstripping the limited geographic reach of its millimeter-wave spectrum that provides even faster 5G speeds. But there is a drawback for people who currently have unlimited 5G hotspot data on the millimeter-wave network: a monthly data cap on hotspot usage.
For the "Beyond Unlimited" Verizon smartphone plan that has existed for a few years, customers currently have 15GB of hotspot data at 4G LTE speeds and unlimited "5G Ultra Wideband" hotspot data. Going forward, the C-Band and millimeter-wave spectrum will both be included in what Verizon calls Ultra Wideband, and Verizon will no longer provide unlimited Ultra Wideband hotspot data to those who currently have it. Beyond Unlimited plan subscribers will instead get a total of 15GB of high-speed hotspot data regardless of which network slice they're using and will face hotspot data slowdowns after using that up.
Practically speaking, this may not be a big change for many people because Verizon's millimeter-wave 5G spectrum has such limited geographic availability to begin with, and the unlimited hotspot data only applies to the use of that spectrum. But it's always good to be aware of changes, given how convoluted Verizon's service plans tend to be, and it might make sense for some people to switch to newer plans with hotspot limits of either 25GB or 50GB.
3Mbps speeds after hotspot limit reached
Verizon confirmed the new 15GB hotspot limit on the Beyond Unlimited plan to Ars today. "Beyond Unlimited has 15GB of premium mobile hotspot. After that allowance is used, those customers will receive unlimited mobile hotspot data speeds of 3Mbps when on 5G Ultra Wideband and 600kbps when on 5G Nationwide/4G LTE," a Verizon spokesperson told us. Verizon's "5G Nationwide/4G LTE" includes 5G deployments on spectrum previously used for 4G and on any other spectrum besides millimeter-wave and C-Band. To get 3Mbps hotspot speeds after using 15GB, you'll have to be either in a C-Band or millimeter-wave area.
Beyond Unlimited isn't the only package affected by the hotspot change. For any other affected plan, Verizon told us that "people on plans with 5G Ultra Wideband mobile hotspot will transition to having an allowance based on their plan." Thus, whatever limit you have on 4G hotspot usage will soon apply to all 4G and 5G hotspot usage combined, without any separate unlimited allowance for millimeter-wave hotspot usage.
Verizon promises 90–170Mbps speeds
Verizon said its C-Band rollout this month will reach over 100 million people in more than 1,700 US cities while providing "typical download speeds of 90–170Mbps, with higher speeds and peaks over 1Gbps in certain areas" and "typical upload speeds of 15–30Mbps, with peak upload speeds over 100Mbps."
The C-Band spectrum being rolled out this year is between 3.7 GHz and 3.8 GHz, and carriers plan to use the rest of their C-Band frequencies (3.8 GHz to 3.98 GHz) in 2023. Verizon and AT&T delayed their deployments by six weeks due to a dispute with the Federal Aviation Administration, and the C-Band rollout will be limited near major airports for six months.
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