An advertisement showing Verizon’s upcoming USB LTE modems has been discovered by Engadget and while details are scarce, at least we’ve got some product names. The two modems, due to be announced by the end of this year, are the LG VL600 and Pantech UML290. The LG model we’ve seen before, courtesy of the FCC, and we know it can handle both Verizon’s CDMA network and of course the soon to launch LTE network. The Pantech model is new and it promises to have global compatibly, meaning there’s either a SIM card hiding underneath all that plastic, or it’s got a software defined radio.
Verizon’s LTE network is due to launch any day now, probably around Thanksgiving, and promises to give users between 5 and 12 Mbps download speeds. It’s going to hit 38 markets by the end of the year and by 2013 their LTE network will cover as many people as are covered by their 3G network today. Those speeds should be taken with a grain of salt, since LTE is capable of so much more. As we’ve seen in Sweden, operator TeliaSonera is giving their users in Stockholm an average of over 30 Mbps and people in Gothenburg are getting speeds as high as 100 Mbps. That of course can be due to the limited amount of people using the network, but still, it’s an order of magnitude faster than what Big Red is offering.
We still don’t know how Verizon will price their “4G” network, but knowing how they’ve historically done things in the past, our guess is that for the first year it’s going to cost quite a pretty penny compared to the already obscene charges they’re asking for right now. If you want speed, want it now, and don’t want to pay too much, consider T-Mobile and their HSPA+ network. I’ve been hearing nothing but praise from the people who’ve been using it.