After promoting its incoming 5G network for months, the biggest wireless carrier in the United States has officially launched its mobile 5G network. Of course, the catch is it’s in only two cities for now.

On Wednesday, Verizon officially announced that it has launched its mobile 5G network in two cities: Chicago, Illinois and Minneapolis, Minnesota. What’s more, Verizon’s 5G launch is actually happening a bit faster than the company originally scheduled, going live one week earlier than planned. Verizon says latency on its mobile 5G network should be below 30 seconds, and folks using compatible devices should see standard download speeds around 450Mbps and peak speeds up to 1 Gbps.

Now, things get a bit more technical when you want to actually find 5G coverage:

“In Chicago, 5G coverage is concentrated in areas of the West Loop and the South Loop, around landmarks like Union Station, Willis Tower, The Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park and The Chicago Theatre. Customers also have 5G Ultra Wideband service in the Verizon store on The Magnificent Mile and throughout The Gold Coast, Old Town and River North.

In Minneapolis, service is concentrated in the Downtown area, including Downtown West and Downtown East, as well as inside and around U.S. Bank Stadium, the site of this weekend’s NCAA men’s basketball Final Four. Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband service is also available around landmarks like the Minneapolis Convention Center, the Minneapolis Central Library, the Mill City Museum, Target Center and First Avenue venues, The Commons, areas of Elliot Park and in the Verizon store in The Mall of America.”

Verizon says it will expand 5G coverage to 30 additional cities in the United States throughout 2019.

Now, the bad news for iPhone owners is that none of the current iPhone models on the market support 5G. (Only Motorola-branded smartphone with Verizon’s support does at the moment.) However, the wait may not be too long. Word on the street is that Apple is going to launch a 5G-enabled smartphone in 2020 — courtesy of Intel’s recently-announced 5G modem.

Our Take

It’s good to see Verizon is actually a week early on its 5G rollout. Plus, it’s even better that it isn’t a marketing gimmick meant to mislead customers like AT&T’s 5G E nonsense. Now the wait begins for Apple to jump on the train.

We Want To Hear From You

Are you happy that Apple is taking its traditional route and waiting to launch a 5G-supported iPhone? Or would you prefer to see a supported device right now?