Verizon Business has certified an adapter from Cradlepoint to support C-Band connectivity on its ultra-wideband network as the carrier ramps up its C-Band deployments this year.

Cradlepoint’s W1850 5G Wideband Adapter, which is now available from Verizon, allows businesses to deploy and manage distributed wireless WANs. The wireless WANS can be used in hybrid work environments as well as interoperate with carriers’ SD-WAN services.

The midband W1850 Wideband Adapter supports bandwidth-intensive and latency-sensitive use cases, such as video, immersive and collaborative applications.

The W1850  adapters were built for deployment in low and  mid-band 5G spectrum and include simultaneous dual connectivity with 4G LTE.

Cradlepoint’s website stated the wideband adapter has also been certified by T-Mobile US and AT&T. Online, the adapters are sold with subscriptions to Cradlepoint’s NetCloud software.

Verizon is selling the Cradlepoint devices for $69 on its 100 Mb/s plan and $99 on the 200 Mb/s plan. Those prices include a subscription to the NetCloud software. A spokesperson for Verizon said the carrier plans to certify additional Cradlepoint devices at some point.

AT&T is using the adapter as part of its IoT program.The W1850-5GB was certified last year as an LTE device on FirstNet, according to an AT&T spokesperson.

UWB expansion
Earlier this month, Verizon set a goal of covering 175 million people with its ultra-wideband 5G network, which uses both C-Band spectrum and very high mmWave spectrum, by the end of the year, up from 100 million at end-January.

Verizon announced on Monday (21 March) that it will roll out its 5G ultra-wideband service to 30 more cities this year on at least 60 MHz of spectrum and up to 100 MHz of spectrum in some areas.

Verizon said the expansion of its ultra-wideband service was due in part to early clearance of C-band spectrum from satellite providers Intelsat and SES, which Verizon acquired in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) C-Band auction in 2021. The C-Band spectrum from that auction was previously scheduled to be released in December 2023.