Get ready Charlotte-area Verizon wireless customers: more speed is coming.
Verizon Wireless announced today it is lighting up its 4G LTE network Sunday and Charlotte is one of the initial 38 markets. The network, the company says, will be up to 10 times faster than the current 3G network and will be available to business users first.
Along with the launch, the company will introduce new 4G LTE mobile broadband data plans. They will start at $50 monthly for 5 GB, and there will be one USB modem available at launch.
To get 10 GB data, it will cost $80. Both plans have a $10/GB overage charge. The modem will be $99.99 after a $50 rebate for a two-year agreement.
Verizon officials said, at launch, the 4G LTE network will touch 1/3 of all Americans and will cover its existing 3G network in its entirety in about two years.
So how fast is this? Verizon said customers should expect download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second, as fast or faster as many high-speed cable or DSL modem speeds
Of course, you'll want to know about using cell phones on this new network. Looks like you'll have to wait until the middle of next year, so if your contract is up soon, best choose to wait. And this also makes me wonder if all the iPhone to Verizon in January talk will cool now.
Looks like a safe bet that iPhone 5 will take advantage of this network, which will also allow talking and surfing at the same time (something you can't do on Verizon's current 3G network). That makes me think the regular June iPhone launch date might be safe.
Last point on Verizon 4G. It's also launching in 38 metro areas and 60 airports. Click here to see if you're covered.
Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Initial Major Metropolitan Area Deployment (Dec. 5, 2010)
Akron, Ohio
Athens, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Baltimore, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts
Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Houston, Texas
Jacksonville, Florida
Las Vegas, Nevada
Los Angeles, California
Miami, Florida
Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota
Nashville, Tennessee
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York, New York
Oakland, California
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Orlando, Florida
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix, Arizona
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Rochester, New York
San Antonio, Texas
San Diego, California
San Francisco, California
San Jose, California
Seattle/Tacoma, Washington
St. Louis, Missouri
Tampa, Florida
Washington, D.C.
West Lafayette, Indiana
West Palm Beach, Florida
Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Initial Commercial Airport Deployment (Airport Name, City, State) Dec. 5, 2010
Austin-Bergstrom International, Austin, Texas
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshal, Glen Burnie, Maryland
Bob Hope, Burbank, California
Boeing Field/King County International, Seattle, Washington
Charlotte/Douglas International, Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago Midway International, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago O’Hare International, Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Covington, Kentucky
Cleveland-Hopkins International, Cleveland, Ohio
Dallas Love Field, Dallas, Texas
Dallas/Fort Worth International, Fort Worth, Texas
DenverInternational, Denver, Colorado
Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
George Bush Intercontinental/Houston, Houston, Texas
Greater Rochester International, Rochester, New York
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Atlanta, Georgia
Honolulu International, Honolulu, Hawaii
Jacksonville International, Jacksonville, Florida
John F. Kennedy International, New York, New York
John Wayne Airport-Orange County, Santa Ana, California
Kansas City International, Kansas City, Missouri
La Guardia, New York, New York
Lambert-St. Louis International, St. Louis, Missouri
Laurence G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts
LongBeach/Daugherty Field, Long Beach, California
Los Angeles International, Los Angeles, California
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, Metairie, Louisiana
McCarran International, Las Vegas, Nevada
Memphis International, Memphis, Tennessee
Metropolitan Oakland International, Oakland, California
Miami International, Miami, Florida
Minneapolis-St.Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nashville International, Nashville, Tennessee
New Castle, Wilmington, Delaware
Newark Liberty International, Newark, New Jersey
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International, San Jose, California
North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
Orlando International, Orlando, Florida
Orlando Sanford International, Sanford, Florida
Palm Beach International, West Palm Beach, Florida
Philadelphia International, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, Mesa, Arizona
Pittsburgh International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Port Columbus International, Columbus, Ohio
Portland International, Portland, Oregon
Rickenbacker International, Columbus, Ohio
Ronald Reagan Washington National, Arlington, Virginia
Sacramento International, Sacramento, California
Salt Lake City International, Salt Lake City, Utah
San Antonio International, San Antonio, Texas
SanDiego International, San Diego, California
SanFrancisco International, San Francisco, California
Seattle-Tacoma International, Seattle, Washington
St. Augustine, Saint Augustine, Florida
St. Petersburg-Clearwater International, Clearwater, Florida
Tampa International, Tampa, Florida
Teterboro, Teterboro, New Jersey
Trenton Mercer, Trenton, New Jersey
Washington Dulles International, Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.
Will Rogers World, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
WilliamP. Hobby, Houston, Texas
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
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15 comments:
Darn. I was hoping that I could get an iPhone from Verizon at the start of the year but judging from this, they won't have it out yet. Guess I'll keep my old phone until I can.
Verizon wants to charge $99.99 for the USB modem and $50 for only 5GB (which will be eaten up fast if using 4G for video, etc) whereas Sprint has 4G service in nearly 70 markets today, provides a USB modem for FREE as one of 15 devices that support 4G including phones (EVO/EPIC), hotspots, netbooks and embedded laptops. Sprint service is $59.99 but that is for UNLIMITED 4G DATA. Verizon may one day catch up to Sprint in terms of POP covered with 4G but Sprint has them beat in terms of value.
It's now misleading to call this technology "4G" per the international standards board...
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/LTE-WiMax-Now-Officially-Not-Technically-4G-111040
I'd settle for decent voice service inside buildings rather than faster internet.
This is B.S. They are bragging about 7 mbps download and 1 mbps upload speeds. Meanwhile, I consistently get over 5 mbps down and 1.2 mbps up with AT&T's local enhanced 3G network. Who in their right mind would pay more for a couple mbps faster speeds? Just good old marketing "smoke and mirrors" at it's best.
I forgot to mention that the 5+ mbps speeds I get are on my iPhone 4. It's one of the few devices that supposrt the enhanced 3G service.
There's no use in explaining the average person what's 3G or 4G.
WiMax and LTE is pre-4G and with WiMax it's just a slight software upgrade for it to be WiMax 2 which is 4G. Sprint current WiMax devices will still be compatible with the upgrade.
To the person who said who wants a decent voice service, well sorry, soon all the cell phone companies will use VoIP over their 4G in the future when 4G is in full effect.
Thoes complaining about speed, it's all depends on capacity, back haul and spectrum usage. LTE in its currrent form is capable of at least 30 Mbps in real life situation. It's VZW not having the backhaul and enough spectrum to do so.
At Sprint, we welcome Verizon to the 4G market. In N.C., we've offered Sprint 4G to metro Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad and the Triangle since Nov. 2009. In fact, we ran our first 4G trials in NC in 2004 & 2005.
Currently, we sell 11 different 4G devices, including 2 4G phones: the Samsung Epic 4G and HTC EVO 4G, the number 1 and 3 best smart phones according to PC World.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/1671/top_10_cell_phones.html
Verizon for their part, will only offer 2 modems -- no phones -- and in N.C., they will only cover Charlotte -- and the airport in Raleigh.
If you live anywhere else in N.C., you'll have to wait for Verizon 4G.
If you or your readers have questions, please contact me. I'm on Twitter (@jbtaylor) or you can email me: john.b.taylor AT Sprint.com.
Regards,
John Taylor
Media Relations
Sprint
Hey Sprint might have this great 4G technology but your network coverage is terrible. I gave you guys up a long time ago. I don't care how fast your service is, it is more important that I can get cell coverage while in my home office in Matthews. With Sprint I had to go outside my house to get coverage. Verizon has the best coverage.
Another benefit of VZW's LTE roll out is it is IPv6 only. That's important because, well, we're just about out of IPv4 addresses, ya'll.
The price is right (the current 3G, 5GB plan is $59). But the hardware needs to get slimmer.
Another day in "Great Marketing." Yawn.
Check your facts. Verizon spent billions to pruchase the 700 MHz spectrum across the entire United States, so spectrum will not be an issue. Also LTE utilizes fiber to the cell sites, so bandwidth is also not an issue. The average throughput speeds advertised are just that, average expected tput across the entire network. Max speeds will be in the 30 Mbps range depending on proximity of the site and how many users are in the area.
30 Mbps? Ha! Not in real time usage, VZW doesn't have the ideal bandwith to fully utilize LTE so the advertised 7 to 12Mbps will hold true. AT&T and VZW doesn't own enough 20Mhz bandwith within the 700Mhz band to allow 4x MIMO, versus Sprint's 120Mhz bandwidth within the 2.5Ghz band.
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