With a video crew documenting every step, a Houston couple became the earliest adopters of next-generation 5G wireless technology as Verizon's residential broadband service was installed at their Heights home Monday.

In doing so, they were the first people to get 5G service, both in Houston and nationally.

Clayton and Emily Harris were the first to apply for the new service in Houston, one of four cities in which Verizon is launching its 5G initiative. They were almost beaten to the punch by a customer in Indianapolis, but that person had to reschedule the installation, making the Harrises pioneers of a sort.

"With 5G being installed here first, that's another one of those things that we can highlight," Mayor Sylvester Turner said later in the day, standing in the couple's driveway. "... It's just another bragging right."

The Harrises' reason for wanting to sign up was not quite so lofty.

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"I was tired of Comcast bill creep," said Clayton Harris, who is a mechanical engineer. "And I wanted better speeds."

5G is the latest version of wireless data access, the successor to the familiar LTE data service offered by the major U.S. cellular carriers. Speeds for 5G can rival those of wired services, so wireless telephone companies such as Verizon are using it as a way to expand their markets.

The flavor of 5G that Verizon is using can offer speeds of around 1 gigabit per second, though the company is promising only 300 megabits. The Harris home clocked speeds of 1.3 gigabits per second on Monday. That will be put to use as Clayton Harris often works from home.

And the couple embraces home connectivity, with their thermostats, lights, ceiling fans, 4K television and security cameras all connected to the Internet.

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said he enjoyed geeking out with the couple.

"This customer is using basically everything you can," Vestberg said. "Everything from computers, TVs, a lot of Internet of Things connected, digital streaming, etc. So I think it's a good customer to start with, and I think that they're going to test out the system to the maximum."

Both Comcast and AT&T offer gigabit-speed services. Clayton Harris said he currently is paying $120 a month for 150-Mbps service from Comcast, which he will keep for now as a backup until he's confident in Verizon's reliability.

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Verizon's residential broadband service is priced at $50 a month for existing Verizon cellular customers, and $70 a month for new customers. AT&T's gigabit fiber broadband is $70 a month, while Comcast's nonpromotional cost is $160 a month. Both companies offer discounts and bundles with other services.

Installation for Verizon's 5G service involves placing a small, pillow-shaped antenna on a customer's house and running a wire inside to a router. That router then broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal to which users can connect their computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles and smarthome devices.

The Verizon router also can use Verizon's LTE service as a backup if the 5G signal goes down.

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Verizon spokesman Steve Van Dinter said initial installations will involve mounting the antenna on customers' houses, but a newer iteration coming later will use a self-install kit and an antenna that can be placed in a window.

Verizon has been placing its 5G nodes — transceivers made by Samsung — on power and light poles around Houston. The node to which the Harrises connect is about 2,000 feet away, a Verizon spokesman said.

"Every technology, you get better and better," Vestberg said. "I think we're just at the beginning."

Whether this is actually the first 5G installation in the country may be a matter of dispute. A Mississippi provider called C-Spire started offering 5G service earlier this summer, though its speeds max out at 120 Mbps, according to its website.

Verizon spokesperson Jeannine Brew Braggs said the C-Spire offering doesn't reach 5G speeds, and that it doesn't use millimeter wave frequencies, considered a key component of 5G technology.

AT&T has said it will be the first to offer mobile 5G services in Houston, though smartphones with 5G capabilities won't come until next year. T-Mobile has said it wants to offer residential and mobile 5G service, and Sprint — which has proposed to merge with T-Mobile — also plans a mobile 5G offering here.

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Besides Houston and Indianapolis, Verizon is also starting 5G installations in Sacramento and Los Angeles.

Clayton Harris said he was hoping the 5G speed would help with some issues he's having with connected devices, including frozen video from his home security cameras.

When they signed up for the service, the Harrises didn't realize they were going to be the first in Houston and the country to get it. They did not expect to have a two-camera video crew, hired by Verizon, tromping through their home.

"It has not been a typical Monday morning," Clayton Harris said.

The afternoon visit from Turner and Vestberg also helped make the day one to remember.

And since the Harrises are Verizon customers, they'll be paying the lower price, which he hopes will stick.

"We're hoping we won't have bill creep from Verizon, too," he said.