Verizon adds 5G coverage to three basketball and hockey arenas
Madison Square Garden is due 'soon.'
You don't have to watch football if you want 5G coverage from Verizon (Engadget's parent company) while you're attending live sports. The carrier has switched on 5G coverage at three major basketball and hockey arenas, including San Francisco's Chase Center (home of the Golden State Warriors), Denver's Pepsi Center (Colorado Avalanche/Denver Nuggets) and Phoenix's Talking Stick Resort Arena (Phoenix Suns). Madison Square Garden is also on deck, although 5G is only slated as "coming soon."
The network plans to have 5G coverage in 10 arenas by the end of the 2019-2020 season.
These building-by-building expansions are necessary in part due to the limited reach of current 5G tech. As we've discovered first-hand, Verizon's ultra-wideband 5G doesn't reach far indoors -- the company can't just place cell sites outside. If it's going to help you share the big game at gigabit speeds, indoor sites are the only options.
