The 4G LTE roll-out on Verizon Wireless continues and this time, the carrier has announced it will flick the switch in Roanoke, Virginia and nearby communities on Nov. 17. Last December, Verizon announced a goal of reaching over 185 million Americans by the end of 2011, and in less than one week, it will have fulfilled that promise. Verizon’s LTE network will officially be available in 178 cities nationwide and will cover more than 186 million Americans after Nov. 17.
While Big Red pushes forward with 4G speed, it’s now facing the heat from its biggest competitor. AT&T launched its LTE network in five major markets back in September — Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, and San Antonio — and expects (or at least hopes for) coverage for fifteen by year’s end. AT&T may be way behind Verizon right now, but when it does work, the 4G network is said to be fast and furious averaging 23.6 Mbps down. AT&T’s first LTE smartphones, the HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, went on sale November 6th. Nokia’s colorful Lumia 800 may hit the network some time next year with 4G LTE.
According to a yesterday’s report from Localytics, customers have been choosing speed over reliability. 56 percent of iPhone 4S users are sucking up data from AT&T instead of Verizon or Sprint. If that’s the case, Verizon’s 4G LTE network could face troubled waters in the years to come, even if it currently has a head start.