LongTermEvolution
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AT&T's LTE network now live in Seattle, Portland, Pittsburgh and Honolulu
The Rethink Possible carrier may be taking baby steps towards its LTE goals, but today more folks will be happy that they, too, can finally start experiencing some speedier service. AT&T has announced its adding a few more names to its LTE-ready list of cities, including Seattle, Portland, Pittsburgh and Hawaii's beautiful capital, Honolulu. Additionally, users in the "metro" area of Detroit should now also be able to connect to the fresh Long Term Evolution network, while Memphis and Birmingham saw their names added to the listings early on yesterday. More importantly, though, how's it working out for you (if at all)? Please let us know in the comments below.
Verizon's LTE network hits 34 new markets tomorrow, set to cover over 75 percent of the US
Big Red's push to blanket the entire US with those lovable Long Term Evolution waves just got a heck of a lot closer, as the carrier's announced it's bringing true 4G to 34 new markets and expanding coverage in other parts of the country. For starters, folks around Hot Springs, Arkansas, Reading, Pennsylvania, Longview, Washington and Laredo, Texas will finally be able to get the most out that marvelous Galaxy S III -- or, perhaps, something like the newfangled Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Meanwhile, Verizon's also let it be known it's expanding LTE coverage in previously covered markets, including big-name cities such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New Orleans. There are more cities involved in the process, but for that our friends, you'll have to peek at the presser located right after the break.
AT&T lights up LTE network in a few more markets, expands coverage in others
It'll likely be a really, really good while before AT&T catches Verizon in the race towards becoming the largest LTE network in the States. Still, you can't blame the Rethink Possible outfit for doing what it's supposed to -- even if it only means rolling out the "true 4G" in small chunks. As of today, though, AT&T's flipping the switch on its Long Term Evolution waves in places like Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and the Worcester, MA area. Meanwhile, the company also announced it's improving LTE coverage in other vicinities around Massachusetts, Greater Baltimore as well as the Washington, D.C. region. Of note, this means AT&T's speedier service is now live in more than 50 markets, a rather small figure when compared to Big Red's 300-plus.
Sprint's white EVO 4G LTE reportedly set for July 15th release, BOGO on Epic 4G Touch in tow
Are you a Sprint customer with a penchant for LTE technology and white handsets? If so, listen up. Intel leaked to blog TechnoBuffalo seems to indicate that the Now Network's very first LTE-toting handset will be hitting store shelves, in snow white, on July 15th; obviously, we're talking about HTC's latest spin on the EVO, the EVO 4G LTE. The albino set, much like its hued brethren already in market, will set you back $200 with a signed two-year commitment, or can be had for $550 contract-free. As an added bonus, it looks like Sprint will also be serving up a buy-on-get-one-free offer on Samsung's Epic 4G Touch. Purchasing one 4G Touch -- scheduled to get Ice Cream Sandwich in the near future -- for $99 on-contract will allow you pick up a second set for the always attractive price of $0. Any takers?
Verizon LTE: no roaming, even if you want to
Several companies are hopping on the LTE bandwagon, but it's turning out to be more isolating an experience than we hoped. According to PCMag, a Verizon spokesperson confirmed that its fourth-generation broadband network won't be compatible with other carriers in the US. As it turns out, Big Red and AT&T each own a separate block of 700MHz spectrum with only a fraction of overlap, leaving little room for phones on both networks to mingle with one another. There's not much hope for roaming on MetroPCS or LightSquared, either, as their waves of LTE run at 1700MHz and 1500MHz, respectively. This smattering of frequencies means it'll be near impossible to get roam on other companies' 4G networks nationally. What's worse, the ITU has approved twelve bands for LTE use around the world, so don't count on a wide selection of global devices -- and you thought sorting through international 3G was bad, didn't you? We're still a long way from learning our LTE roaming fate, but it appears the largest carrier in the US won't make the journey any easier on us.
Rogers announces 150Mbps LTE launch in four Canadian cities this year
Rogers has announced it's lighting up 150Mbps LTE in four Canadian cities this year. Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver are setting the stage for an additional 21 market rollout in 2012. Sure, that theoretical 150Mbps -- with an announced upstream of 70Mbps -- may shift a whole lot when this all gets real, but seriously, compared to HSPA+ those speeds are astounding. Canadians eager to get a bit more info can take a peek at Roger's new LTE site (link below) and cast a vote for your hometown to be part of the 2012 expansion. Rogers hasn't mentioned a date just yet -- or if they plan on all four areas going live at once -- but you can be sure that we'll be keeping close tabs on all the details and grabbing some hands-on experiences with launch devices as soon as we can.
Verizon launches 4G mobile hotspot
Customers can now order the new Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot online or in Verizon Stores, Samsung and Verizon announced on Tuesday. The new mobile hotspot, which allows up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices to connect to Verizon's 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network at the same time, will begin shipping on March 31. Samsung's new device, which is about the size of a small stack of credit cards, promises to connect users to Verizon's next generation mobile network with download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps. That's about 10 times faster than a typical 3G connection and up to 2.5 times faster than the average home broadband service in the United States. Today, Verizon offers 4G LTE service to 39 cities in the US and has announced plans to expand this coverage to 98 cities by the end of 2011. In areas without 4G coverage, the Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot is backward-compatible with Verizon's existing 3G network. If you need a high-speed mobile hotspot in your pocket, the Samsung device and associated data services will put a small dent in your wallet. The device itself costs US$99.00 after mail-in rebate with a two-year contract or $269.99 without a contract. For service, Verizon charges a $50 monthly access fee for 5 GB of data or $80 per month for 10 GB. Customers who exceed their monthly rations can expect to pay an additional $10 per extra GB. Disappointingly, Verizon doesn't appear to offer an unlimited data package at any price. With its rapidly growing family of 4G devices and services, Verizon is quickly becoming the carrier to beat in the next generation wireless market. Verizon launched its 4G services with only modems for PCs last December and introduced its first 4G-compatible phone, the HTC Thunderbolt, earlier this month. In the second quarter of this year, the Motorola Xoom will receive a hardware upgrade that will allow Verizon to add the tablet to its 4G family. The Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot completes the starting lineup, enabling any Wi-Fi device -- like a Mac or an iPad -- to enjoy Verizon's speedy LTE services. The Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot is available to order through Verizon's website.
FCC unanimously approves LTE standard for nationwide public safety network
The FCC's been looking to establish a nationwide public safety network since the early days of the infamous 700MHz spectrum auction, and while it never quite accomplished that task, the commission has made a small but important step -- it's unanimously decided that Long Term Evolution (LTE) will be the one ring that binds all future chunks of public safety radio band. Of course, this wasn't a terribly hard decision for the FCC to make, as major commercial cellular carriers and a number of regional public safety agencies have already invested in LTE equipment for the 700MHz band... and the decision doesn't yet specify a voice standard. All that's been decided upon is how those countless packets of data will float over the air. How will disparate groups of first responders communicate with one another in the event of a national emergency? That's what the organization is asking you right now -- feel free to contact the FCC anytime within the next 45 days with your proposal.
Samsung 4G LTE smartphone for Verizon (SCH-i510) first hands-on!
The white curtains just lifted here at the Samsung booth at CES to unveil the Samsung 4G LTE Smartphone. This Verizon LTE-ready beast touts a Super AMOLED Plus display, runs Android 2.2 with TouchWiz and features a front-facing cam. On the rear it's got an 8 megapixel auto-focus shooter and mini HDMI on the hip. We're busy sorting out details and grabbing more pics. Stay tuned! Update: We've added the gallery with hands-on shots for your viewing pleasure! Update 2: Samsung nor Verizon were willing to talk labels, but it's a pretty safe bet this phone is the same as the SCH-i520 we peeked earlier in the week. %Gallery-113082%
Verizon LTE / 4G preview with the LG VL600 modem
We've just gotten our hands on the less-insane version of Verizon's LTE modems, the LG VL600. The company timed the shipment of these puppies to coincide with today's announcement of the coming 4G onslaught, set to begin December 5th -- which based on what we've seen thus far is going to be beyond awesome. Unless you're on a Mac (more on that after the break). In case you haven't seen the device in question, it's a rather large (we mean seriously large) USB dongle, which thankfully comes with a clip and extra cable. Like all LTE devices, it uses a SIM which will look familiar to those in GSM devices, but is -- again -- almost comically large. %Gallery-108608% We haven't spent a load of time with the modem, but in the few short hours we've had to play with the device, the down- and upstream speeds we're getting are nothing short of phenomenal. In Brooklyn, which we're not even sure is really heavily covered by the LTE blanket (and was being battered by rain and wind at the time of testing), we saw consistent speeds which peaked at 7 Mbps down, and over 1 Mbps up. Overall, speeds held steady around 5 to 6 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up. By comparison, we saw around 4 Mbps down and less than 1 Mbps up when we did some testing with Sprint's WiMAX Overdrive 4G, and roughly 6.5 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up with Clear's iSpot. Overall, browsing on our computer felt nearly identical to our home broadband, and even HD video playback on YouTube was snappy and responsive over the network. And did we mention we were only getting two out of four bars on our connection? Update: We've added a link to SlashGear's hands-on of the modem below. As you can see, speeds vary by area, and SG was pulling 12 Mbps downstream and more than 5 Mbps up -- impressively matching Verizon's claimed numbers. Update 2: With a little more testing, we're seeing speeds closer to Verizon's estimates. We've added a second image after the break, and as you can see, we're nabbing over 10 Mbps downstream and nearly 4 Mbps up.
Verizon hosting 4G LTE news conference tomorrow to discuss launch plans
Guess what people, Verizon's LTE network launch is really for real and the carrier has now scheduled a news conference for tomorrow where it'll discuss its December plans in more detail. Tony Melone, VZW's chief tech officer, will be on hand to answer any questions beyond the already known plans for 38 metropolitan areas to get the 4G LTE treatment -- accounting for a cool 110 million Americans who'll be able to ride the lightning of faster internet speeds on the move. The event kicks off at 12PM and we'll make sure to tune in, if only to find out what Tony's answer is to the inevitable "what is 4G" question. [Thanks, Henry]
Verizon launching LTE network in December 2010 (video)
Verizon's been talking details on LTE deployment for some time now, but even at CTIA earlier in the year, the carrier insisted that it would be the first half of 2011 before the next-gen network was active in the US of A. Now, it looks as if the engineers have been working triple-time in order to get Long Term Evolution live in the States under Big Red's branding, as a new VZW commercial (embedded after the break) has affirmed that the first LTE waves will go public here in December 2010. Yeah, next month. Granted, there's no information beyond the date, but at least we shouldn't have to ponder long which devices will be first out of the gate. Here's hoping Santa's wish list has room for one more thing.
AT&T cries foul over T-Mobile's 'HSPA+ is 4G' talk
No matter how much T-Mobile wants to pretend, HSPA+ is not on the same upload / download pay grade as LTE and WiMAX. Still, that isn't stopping the company from calling its new technology rollout "4G speeds," much to the dismay of another major HSPA+ supporter, AT&T. Cue Ma Bell spokesman Seth Bloom, who recently told Fierce Wireless, "I think that companies need to be careful that they're not misleading customers by labeling HSPA+ as a 4G technology." Of course, AT&T itself is rolling out that technology as an intermediate step between current 3G and LTE, and we know they want to reserve the 4G nomenclature for the latter's unveiling. Hey guys, can we just label it 3.95G and call it day?
AT&T says Verizon's first LTE phone is 'going to be a fat brick'
Ooh wee! Verizon and AT&T are getting all hot and bothered over the forthcoming LTE battle -- a battle which much like the current map wars, you can expect to grow weary of in about two minutes. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal today, both carriers have put reps in the limelight for a volley of tough talk. For starters, AT&T's CTO John Donovan claimed that Verizon was jumping the gun with its first-on-the-scene LTE rollout, suggesting initial devices are "going to drain the battery like crazy, and [they're] going to be a fat brick," noting that "2012 will be the time when you'll have decent handsets." Donovan lumped on the hits by also saying that "Anyone who says their network is ready for the iPhone -- or the broader mobile data explosion that AT&T has experienced -- is being naive." Of course, Big Red didn't just sit there and take it -- spokesman Jim Gerace fired back that "No matter how much our competitors talk, it's not going to slow us down," though he offered no further comment on the insults' stride-breaking potential. Both parties were mum on just how fleeced the consumer would be getting once the LTE pricing plans are announced, of course.
Verizon promises first 4G handset for next summer, foretells end of unlimited data plans
Alright, you ultrafast mobile broadband zealots, whip out your calendars and draw a big red tick around the middle of 2011. Verizon's CTO Anthony Melone has identified next summer as the carrier's release window for its first LTE handset, which should be preceded by the 4G service being rolled out by the end of this year. If you're wondering what you'll be using on that "faster than 3G" network while waiting for the vanguard handset, we saw plenty of LTE-equipped gear at CES and let's not forget about that 1080p-decodin' NVIDIA tablet that was teased during the show. The one bit of bogus news from Melone was the statement that contracts with "as much data as you can consume is the big issue that has to change." Verizon seems resolutely set on introducing some type of tiered or metered price plans, which is unfortunately the same path AT&T is headed down. The message from the networks is therefore clear: with great (downloading) power comes great (bill-paying) responsibility.
Samsung LTE USB modem winds up in FCC database
Samsung's made some lofty boasts regarding its LTE support before, and here we go with some official documentation of US-bound products care of the FCC. The agency's database lists device A3LSLCU100 (catchy name, eh?) as a pre-production LTE USB modem from the company -- and that's about it. As for the usual fun of looking at over-saturated internal / external photos, good ol' Sammy's got a window of 180 days of confidentiality that started September 24th, so by our count, we've got potentially quite a while before we see something. The best we get now is this label outline above -- one more, equally nondescript shot after the break, if you're curious.
Verizon will run LTE trials in Seattle and Boston later this year
We don't know if this is indicative of the company's rumored plans to roll out LTE in Q1 2010 , but Verizon has announced that it'll start running trials of its 4G network later this year, and the lucky cities to first get a stab at it are Seattle and Boston. In an earnings call today, CFO John Killian reiterated that the plan is to have a commercial launch in "up to 30 markets next year" (note he didn't say when in 2010), with an expected 100 million points of presence for LTE by 2013. VZW COO Denny Strigl skirted by a few questions about any future Apple devices, but no surprise there, that's been its modus operandi for some time now.[Via Phone Scoop]
Verizon rumored to be pushing up LTE plans to Q1 2010, new Apple device the catalyst?
So we already knew Verizon was looking to push LTE out the door and to about 20 to 30 markets in the second half of 2010, but Tech Crunch's got it on good word that the company's doing everything in its power to get the service ready to go in a number of areas in time for Q1 2010. That's interesting in and of itself, but together with this morning's whispers of Apple's tablet coming early next year and past talk of an Apple / VZW partnership, and the tale gets exponentially more intriguing. As TC suggests, a tablet lacking voice service on the LTE network wouldn't violate AT&T's not-at-all permanent exclusivity. Its source said there was one LTE device, not a wireless card, that this early launch was being "specifically geared towards," but even if so, that could apply to any number of other non-Apple gadgets (from Nokia, perhaps?). Of course, much of this is rumor built on rumor, so no matter how well these pieces might seem to fall in place -- or how potentially awesome the idea might seem -- there's a large grain of salt you should be taking with you.
Ericsson and TeliaSonera reveals world's first commercial LTE site in Stockholm
Mmm, the sweet smell of mobile data burning up the pipes in the morning. Gets us every time. Evidently, the same aroma does something to the brains of Ericsson and TeliaSonera, who have taken their January agreement to the next level by introducing the planet's first commercial Long-Term Evolution (LTE) site in Stockholm, Sweden. Mind you, we've seen lots of trial runs over the past year and change, but this one's no test. Rather, this site will become part of a commercial network scheduled to go live in 2010, bringing wicked fast mobile transfers to Stockholmers everywhere. Now, let's hope these American carriers get jealous, and fast.
Verizon releases early data-focused LTE specs, CDMA nowhere in sight
Verizon's got a lot of work to do before it lights up its next-gen LTE network in 2010, and things are beginning to move along: the company just released the first set of specs for device manufacturers as part of its Open Development Initiative. It's still a rough draft, but there are a few big-picture tidbits buried in the dense jargon -- the LTE network will start out as a data-only service, and right now devices aren't required to support CDMA at all, which is a pretty bold move. That certainly makes sense as Verizon's test networks go live in the next few months, but the company's has already said that phones will be available at launch, so we're guessing things are going to change quickly as time marches on -- 60Mbps mobile downloads, here we come.Read - Verizon PRRead - Specs site (registration required)
