Verizon debuts 5G Ultra Wideband coverage in North Dakota

FARGO — Verizon customers throughout North Dakota may have noticed their cell phones running a bit faster Tuesday morning, June 27.

That uptick in speed is because Verizon has begun to roll out its 5G Ultra Wideband service across North Dakota, the company announced via press release Tuesday.

The release stated that the

5G Ultra Wideband coverage

“brings power and performance comparable to a wired broadband internet connection to customers’ pockets.” Among the tasks made possible by 5G Ultra Wideband, the release said, are “downloading huge documents and streaming movies in high definition audio and video, … playing console quality games and conducting video chats, video conferencing and FaceTime calls with clear sound and video.”

According to

Verizon’s website, the company was the first in the world to roll out 5G connectivity on April 3, 2019, when service began in Chicago and Minneapolis. The company has steadily rolled out 5G and 5G Ultra Wideband since then.

On March 7, Verizon announced that its 5G Ultra Wideband network was available to 200 million Americans. In

announcing

the milestone, Verizon promised to continue expanding coverage in suburban and rural areas as well. Since then, the company has expanded 5G Ultra Wideband coverage in Iowa, Nebraska, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Indiana, South Dakota and Texas.

“Our engineers are working tirelessly to bring an exceptionally reliable 5G network experience to more areas in North Dakota,” Dean Brauer, Vice President of Engineering and Operations for Verizon, stated via release. “This technology will not only bring faster speeds and more reliable connectivity, but expanding 5G service into more areas of North Dakota will unlock new opportunities for innovation and economic growth.”

Cities and towns that now have access to 5G Ultra Wideband include Jamestown, Williston, Valley City, Wahpeton, Devils Lake, Crosby, Columbus, Flaxton, Sherwood, Mohall, Westhope, Willow City, Belcourt, Rolla, Starkweather, Anamoose, Velva, New Town, Killdeer, Beach, Center, New Rockford, Gackle, Ashley, Grafton, Wahpeton, Drayton, Buxton, Oriska, Forman and Ludden.

The release did not indicate that Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks and Minot were included in the debut. However, a service coverage map on Verizon’s website showed that some areas of Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks and West Fargo have 5G Ultra Wideband coverage. Minot was not shown to have any 5G Ultra Wideband coverage.

Verizon is using a C-Band spectrum which it recently acquired to deliver the 5G Ultra Wideband. The service will use 100 megahertz of the C-Band spectrum in “multiple North Dakota markets,” with additional bandwidth to be available by the end of the year. To accommodate the “exponential increases” in data usage, Verizon has increased the fiber connections at many cell sites to carry 10 times more data than before.