Verizon to roll out 4G LTE network Sunday, December 5

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Verizon has announced plans to roll out its LTE wireless network this Sunday, December 5. At launch, the telecom giant will offer 4G connectivity to 38 US cities and more than 60 airports, covering approximately 110 million people by the end of 2010. The company intends to expand that footprint to nationwide coverage by the end of 2013.

The 4G network will provide download speeds of 5 to 12Mb/s and upload rates of 2 to 5Mb/s, which Verizon says is up to 10x faster than its EV-DO network. The company also claims its 4G service halves the latency of its 3G. Plans will start at $50 for 5GB of data, while a 10GB option costs $80. Both options cost $10 for every gig you go over.

Verizon doesn't have any 4G-compatible smartphones ready to take advantage of its speedier network, but it will offer two different USB modems for $100 when the service goes live. Mind you, they're $100 after you sign a two-year contract and cash a $50 main-in rebate. 4G handsets should arrive early next year, especially with CES coming.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/41394-verizon-to-roll-out-4g-lte-network-sunday-december-5.html

 

[ElShotte]

Hmm. For some reason I remember hearing that the 4G pricing was supposed to be cheaper than the current 3G prices, just not sure whether it was for Verizon or someone else. Currently being a Verizon customer, Im not sure if I would want to step up to 4G with the $20 price difference for the basic 5 Gb of data. It would be sick if you guys could review one of those USB modems for latency and how it fares with online gaming.

 

[Guest]

WOW.....$50 for a monthly total of 5GB download? Hey Verizon, CLEAR communication is a bit cheaper and they allow unlimited download on their 4G network. Maybe it is time for Verizon to catch up with the rest of technology.

 

[ajd007]

Does this 4G network allow for simultaneous voice and data communications? I've heard that this is the biggest problem with their 3G network

 

[princeton]

LTE is NOT 4G. The pre-4G technology 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is often branded "4G", but the first LTE release does not fully comply with the IMT-Advanced requirements.

 

[PanicX]

princeton said:
LTE is NOT 4G. The pre-4G technology 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is often branded "4G", but the first LTE release does not fully comply with the IMT-Advanced requirements.

I agree, Verizon, Sprint and friends are likely to be facing some false advertising lawsuits if they don't rope in their marketing departments. ITU defines 4G

It's even more insidious that they'd claim to have the "most advanced 4G network" when it takes LTE-advanced to be considered a 4G provider.

 

[DarkCobra]

I agree that the current LTE specs fall short of the true promised 4G capabilities. However, so far all the carriers seem to be fibbing equally and using the 4G verbiage falsely . . . not that it makes it right. What really bothers me though is the data pricing! I'm a Verizon customer but they're out of their minds if they think I'm going to pay those data rates.

 

[Guest]

Yes that is one of the many advantages.

 

[Guest]

This price is actually referring to the bba connect either via a MIFI or other broadband or mobile hotspot, What your referring to is a smartphone plan which is $29.99 a month unlimited. The price of $50 was a recent decrease of the $59.99 for the same service. At this time the smartphone pricing is still set the same but instead of unlimited it may be restricted to 5G. I challenge anyone with a current smartphone to exceed 5 gb that would be impossible through just the smartphone. I am not saying if your using as a hot spot or a tethered device to a computer but simply using the smartphone itself with as much data as physically possible. Look at a recent bill and it may be in KB which 1024 kb equals 1 MB and 1024 MB equal 1 GB so unless your exceeding 5,242,880KB you would have nothing to worry about. Keep in mind that Sprint Wi-Max which is basically a glorified hot spot has an additional charge of $10.

 

[Guest]

I agree, it is amazing that these carriers have gotten away with it this long. I don't tell everyone my Fiesta is a Mustang. Eventually someone will wise up.

~Mr Wizard