Verizon's 4G LTE network is the real thing...and it's really fast, too

While we wait to see what AT&T has up its wireless sleeve locally tomorrow, Verion Wireless is already off to a big start in true 4G.

You'll see T-Mobile and AT&T advertising their current services as 4G. Think of them as a slightly faster 3G variant. They are not what you should think of as 4G. I think AT&T will announce its 4G LTE (long term evolution) plans for Charlotte tomorrow.

Verizon has been going here for a few months and last week announced support for most major cities in the Carolinas.

Recently, I was able to test the 4G LTE network courtesy of one of the company's 4G USB mobile modems, which run $50 to $100 with a two-year contract. And boy is it fast.

I got a consistent 4G connection all over Charlotte and the speed blew me away. I got faster download speeds via this USB than on my Windstream DSL which gives me about 13 Mbps download. With Verizon I got 18 down and about 10 Mbps upload, or five times as fast as my home network.

YouTube HD screamed, streaming anything screamed.

If all you do is email and check a few web pages, I'm not sure 4G is for you, but if you really like to work and send attachments and heavy surf on the move, this is the way to go.

It's night and day versus any 3G modem I've tried.

OK, so what does all this 4G goodness cost you? It's $50 per month for 5 gigs or $80 for 10 gigs. That's a lot of streaming and surfing and downloading. Go past those limits and you pay $10 per gig.

That's the same price Verizon charges for its 3G mobile plans, though it offers a couple cheaper options that aren't available with 4G: $35 for 3 gigs and $20 for one gig.

Verizon will launch high speed wireless LTE network Dec. 5

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

Report: Apple won't support 4G with iPhone 5

Now things are getting interesting.

With Verizon's announcement last week that it's new 4G network would be deployed by year's end in nearly 40 markets, including Charlotte -- and media reports that the company would be getting an iPhone in January -- many assumed the iPhone would be Verizon's first 4G device.

To quote ESPN's Lee Courso, "Not so fast my friend."

Techcrunch, a popular and reputable blog, is reporting that Apple will not support 4G in 2011, much like it didn't initially support 3G when the original iPhone debuted on AT&T's Edge Network.

Techcrunch says the Verizon iPhone (or Veriphone as folks have begun to call it) will not support the 4G standard, and when a mid-2011 refresh is out, the iPhone 5, that the new model won't support it, either.

According to the blog, Apple will make a dual-mode phone that supports GSM (AT&T) and CDMA (Verizon) standards, but only on 3G. Apple won't support the 4G network until sometime in 2012.

Consider this Steve Jobs saying he doesn't want to have his users testing out a brand new service that may have some bugs. This, of course, will give Android momentum, even as Veriphone finally arrives, by saying it Droid Does 4G and iPhone won't.

Android actually supports 4G on Sprint's WiMAX networks right now and I've been able to use it around Charlotte with pretty good results. But 4G is spotty and I'd imagine that AT&T and Verizon will suffer some 4G growing pains next year, not to mention that the chips needed to power the 4G devices are a little power hungry. Anyone who has tried Sprint's otherwise cool 4G phone, the HTC Evo, knows you have to basically keep a charge cable in your pocket.

So it seems that you'll be able to get iPhone 5 for AT&T or Verizon (and I'm assuming Sprint and T-Mobile, too, if the multi-standard thing is true). AT&T is lighting up its new 3G mode, called HSPA+, which some feel can deliver speeds close to what we're seeing in early 4G devices.

Be interesting to see what happens moving forward when we get some official announcements, but considering there will likely be a premium charge for 4G, something like Sprint's $10 per month, I'm not sure how many folks will sign up for it anyway. At least initially.