Verizon 4G LTE Network Turns One Year Old Today
Though it seems like just yesterday that we were first unboxing the HTC ThunderBolt, the first smartphone to roll out on Verizon's still-impressive 4G LTE network here in the USA, it's been one year to the day that the network has been active. On the first day the network was officially deployed, it covered an already impressive 39 markets, this eclipsed at this one year marker by the current 190 markets the Verizon 4G LTE network sits in today. While the Verizon LTE network has been their "4G" offering since they originally started promoting the "4G" term, they mention the competition as being less prepared for the eventual oncoming of higher speed networks – sarcasm in tow, of course.
When you speak about LTE, you should know that there are currently two networks that are offering LTE speeds on devices – Verizon and AT&T. However, as you may well know, there's not just one whole heck of a lot of cities that AT&T's newest version of 4G covers at the moment. While Verizon's network covers "200 million Americans" as of December 15th inside 190 Markets here in the USA, AT&T's LTE network is active in less than 10. That's not to say that the devices AT&T's network is currently working with aren't fast in those areas, (take the LG Nitro for example), because they are, it does however point towards the fact that Verizon still has the upper hand in the market, as they say:
"This is what leadership is about. Some of our competitors in the marketplace talk about 4G LTE a lot. What they're planning, when they might have services in lots of cities, when they might get an abundance of 4G LTE smartphones and other devices so users can actually, well, use the network." – Verizon
Verizon notes that their selection of LTE devices works well with their best-coverage-area in the nation with smartphones, tablets, notebooks and netbooks, hotspots, and modems. Head to our 4G LTE portal to see how it all ads up. And get your anxious pants on while we continue to wait for the greatest LTE-laden device of all, hopefully announced for availability this week: the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. There's also a couple of Motorola tablets known as Xyboard DROID coming out later this month on the network, and most recently the DROID RAZR and HTC Rezound round out the Android world. You've got choices!
UPDATE: AT&T has let us know that there's more than 10 markets that their LTE network is now involved in – have a peek here:
"As of November 20th, AT&T's 4G LTE is now available in 15 markets including: Athens, Ga., Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Nov. 20 launches expanded AT&T 4G LTE to 15 markets total, meeting its 2011 market commitment. AT&T plans to reach 70 million consumers in the United States and Puerto Rico by year-end 2011." – AT&T
More competition means more coverage!