Motorola’s 5G Moto Mod for Moto z3 Now Available on Verizon
by Anton Shilov on March 13, 2019 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Verizon
- Smartphones
- Motorola
- 5G
- Moto Mods
- X50
- Moto z3
- Snapdragon 855
Motorola and Verizon have begun taking pre-orders for the 5G Moto Mod, the addon-accessory for the Moto z3 smartphone introduced last year. The device supports 5G mmWave radio, sub-6 GHz connectivity. The 5G Moto Mod only works with the Moto z3, and will available exclusively to Verizon customers in the U.S.
The Motorola 5G Moto Mod packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 SoC that is used to boot the company’s X50 modem, the key enabler of the developer’s 5G platform. Besides the chips, the 5G Moto Mod also integrates 10 antennas: four Qualcomm’s QTM052 for mmWave radio, two antennas for sub-6 GHz connectivity, and four for 4G/LTE. To power itself, the unit has a 2000-mAh battery.
Verizon will sell Motorola’s 5G Moto Mod for $349.99 in retail when bought together with a Moto z3, or to existing customers with an active Moto z3 on their account. Meanwhile, customers with a Moto z3 and any Verizon unlimited plan can get the product for $50 if they sign up for the 5G service at $10 per month (with the first three months free) on top of their current plans, that now cost from $85 to $105 for 24 months. Besides, customers can also activate a new line of service on a Verizon device payment plan to get the phone and the mod.
Verizon will launch its 5G Ultra Wideband service in select areas in Chicago and Minneapolis on April 11. Later this year the company will expand its 5G Ultra Wideband network to over 30 markets. Besides the 5G smartphone+mod combination from Motorola, Verizon will also offer Samsung's Galaxy S10 5G and LG's V50 ThinQ handsets later this summer.
Related Reading:
- Motorola Enables 5G: A Moto Mod for the z3
- Moto 5G Mod at Snapdragon Summit: Lots of Antennas, and S855 Inside?
- Motorola Announces Moto g7 Family Line-up
Source: Motorola & Verizon
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06GTOSC - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
Just wait a few years. Full 5G deployment is going to take time.Gunbuster - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
Wait, you are not lining up to pay extra for the capability to blow through your entire months data plan in 21 seconds?SirKronan - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
I cannot agree with this enough. I just can fathom on WHAT planet we need our single-screened cellphones to have the data speeds to be able to watch 6 4k shows simultaneously.The usage scenarios where such absurdly fast data rates would benefit users the most would be tethering, but even Verizon's "unlimited" plans allow only a paltry 10 or 15 GB of tethering. (Not sure how they got around that FCC ruling regarding data discrimination on their LTE spectrum.... wouldn't it be nice to have Verizon money/power???)
5G actually sparks a bit of ire and wrath in my heart. Fix your 4G LTE network properly before you start pushing your next fancy buzzword. Most customers would like to just get consistently good 4G speeds
If you have to THROTTLE customers when they hit 22GB because your network can't handle the load, fix that FIRST.
SirKronan - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
Supposed to say "can't fathom". Not sure why my autocorrect did that there ...Gunbuster - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
I mean I can understand if it helps the infrastructure by only taking a half second to burst down my entire YouTube video and then be back to idle and process some other request but hey that's something they should be paying for themselves as it lets them multiplex more people per tower. It's ZERO added value to me yet they keep marketing it like the second coming...Rjeff3223 - Saturday, June 1, 2019 - link
Don't have a grandfathered unlimited data plan and try and buy the 5g mod. I don't understand if the internet is going to be unlimited, what is the problem with having a unlimited wifi hotspot. But Verizon won't play ball. But the funny thing is that Verizon told me I had to get the data plan I have this very day.