Verizon Wireless is looking to poach customers of cable, satellite and AT&T DSL broadband services with the launch this month of HomeFusion Broadband, a high-speed Internet service delivered over its 4G LTE network.
The wireless carrier said it is aiming the solution at households "in areas with limited broadband options" as a "reliable alternative for data connectivity in their homes."
HomeFusion Broadband will be available beginning later this month initially in three markets: Birmingham, Ala., Dallas and Nashville, Tenn. AT&T is the incumbent telephone company in each of those markets. Verizon Wireless said it plans to launch additional markets later.
Verizon Wireless claims that in real-world conditions, HomeFusion Broadband customers and other 4G LTE users will experience average data rates of 5 to 12 Megabits per second on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink.
The HomeFusion service will be offered in several usage-based tiers, starting at $60 per month for 10 Gigabytes of data. The $90 per month plan allows for 20 GB and a $120 per month plan is capped at 30 GB. Verizon Wireless will charge $10 per Gigabyte used over the limits.
A one-time equipment fee of $199.99 applies, with free installation provided under contract with Asurion.
"Customers want to connect more and more devices in their homes to the Internet, and HomeFusion Broadband gives them a simple, fast and effective way to bring the most advanced wireless connection from Verizon into their homes," Verizon Wireless chief marketing officer Tami Erwin said.
The home-based 4G LTE service uses a cylinder-shaped antenna that transmits the signal to a broadband router inside a customer's home. The HomeFusion broadband router can connect up to four wired devices and at least 20 wireless devices inside the home using Wi-Fi.
Verizon Wireless had been testing LTE broadband hookups with DirecTV customers in Pennsylvania, but those ended last year.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam was quoted in a report as saying the telco was terminating the LTE trial with DirecTV to focus on its spectrum and co-marketing deals with cable operators including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The MSOs' proposed sale of Advanced Wireless Services spectrum to Verizon Wireless is pending regulatory approval, while the marketing arrangements are also being scrutinized.
Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network covers more than 200 million people in the U.S. The company, based in Basking Ridge, N.J., is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and the U.K.'s Vodafone.
