MetroPCS isn't the only carrier entering the LTE playing field. While bloggers and analysts are saying that MetroPCS is the first to deploy LTE, MetroPCS LTE is only in one city - Las Vegas. Verizon will have coverage of LTE ready in the next few months in 25-30 major cities.
Verizon Wireless is on target to deploy LTE in 25-30 markets, covering about 100 million people, by the end of 2010. Verizon expects the initial devices to be USB dongles for laptop connectivity. "Verizon expects to offer LTE consumer handsets in mid-year 2011,"Verizon spokesman Ken Muche told Wireless and Mobile News in an email statement.
Although no date for launch of the LTE network has been set, we suspect something around Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Verizon, in the past, has launched major products in time for the Holidays, The Holiday season is very important to carriers, that's when contracts end and when people buy friends and loved-ones new phones as gifts. It wouldn't make sense to wait until after Christmas to launch the network when gift-getters would bring theirsmartphones back into the stores asking for smartphones for the faster network.
Verizon now has a web teaser page that extolls LTE's virtues:
"What is Verizon's 4G? It's your signal...at full-tilt. It's an
abundance of bandwidth--reducing your lag time significantly. And its
powerful signal makes you invincible. Be the first to defy boundaries
and ride the lightning of Verizon's 4G signal!"
Verizon Wireless tested Long Term Evolution (LTE) fourth generation (4G) data call in Boston and Seattle based on the 3GPP Release 8 standard in April 2009. The successful data calls involved streaming video, file uploads and downloads, and Web browsing. Verizon Wireless has successfully made data calls using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to enable voice transmissions over the LTE 4G network.