Verizon Wireless turned on LTE in nine additional metropolitan areas today, as well as expanding their 4G network in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans and Philadelphia. The wireless leader announced today the 4G LTE network is now available in Mobile and Montgomery Ala.; Greater Fairfield and New Haven, Conn.; Gainesville, Pensacola and Tallahassee, Fla.; Fayetteville-Lumberton, N.C.; and Bryan-College Station and Temple-Killeen, Texas.
David Small, chief technical officer for Verizon Wireless, noted, “We’re now offering consumers and businesses in 55 metropolitan areas the most advanced 4G wireless network on the planet. We plan to bring 4G LTE mobile broadband to our entire 3G coverage area by the end of 2013.”
Consumers can choose from several devices to access the 4G LTE network, including newly-launched smartphones, the DROID Charge by Samsung and ThunderBolt by HTC, mobile hotspots including the MiFi 4510L and Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot. Laptop users can choose from three USB modems from Novatel, Pantech and LG.
In real-world, fully-loaded network environments, 4G LTE users should experience average data rates of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink. While Verizon Wireless’ 3G network covers more than 290 million Americans, the company’s 4G LTE network is already available in 55 metropolitan areas.
American Roamer cell maps shows how WiMAX, LTE and HSPA+ stack up against each other.
Clearwire says it expects to end the year with approximately 9.5 million subscribers, up from a February prediction that it would end the year with around 8.8 million subscribers.
At the end of the first quarter of 2011, Verizon’s running total of LTE subscribers was about 565,000, including the 65,000 subscribers signed up in Q4. By year’s end, ABI expects LTE users globally will reach 16 million, with 205 million LTE devices shipping in 2014. Of those, 72 percent are expected to be phones.
In other news, Verizon Wireless and Medco Health Solutions today announced a mobile application that can instantly guide patients and their doctors to the lowest-cost prescription drug to meet their health needs and help them identify potentially harmful drug interactions. Available now on Verizon Wireless Android handsets and BlackBerry devices, the new Medco Pharmacy mobile app delivers critical information to help Medco members manage their prescription medications.
Here’s a Quick Guide to the latest “4G” Phones — if you include HSPA as “4G”.
