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Verizon turns on 4G LTE in 11 new markets, they now cover over 200 million Americans

Categories: Verizon
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 1:18 AM
verizon11

Verizon Wireless has just announced that their 4G LTE network now covers more than 200 million Americans in 190 markets. It took them just 375 days to make that happen. David Small, Chief Technical Officer at Verizon Wireless, says: “That’s more than twice as fast as our 3G network rollout.” So which new markets got access today and pushed Verzion over the 200 million mark? Dover, Del.; Lafayette, Ind.; Fitchburg/Leominster, Mass.; Duluth, The Rochester Area and St. Cloud, Minn.; Manchester/Nashua, N.H.; Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Findlay/Tiffin and Youngstown/Warren, Ohio; and Indiana, Pa.

Compare that to AT&T, who launched their 4G LTE network roughly 3 months ago. They cover only a handful of cities, and they have a limited number of devices that can even take advantage of their new technology. When they launched the LG Nitro HD in late November their press release said: “AT&T plans to reach 70 million Americans with 4G LTE by year-end 2011.” In other words, their network covers just 35% the amount of people that Verizon’s network does. That’ll of course change with time, but for those of you who travel frequently, it’s an important statistic to know.

The real question on our minds is when will both AT&T and Verizon actually offer data plans for their new high speed wireless networks that are cheap and plentiful? Earlier today we reported that 6.05 million American homes don’t even bother signing up for cable or DSL, instead they just use either a USB dongle or tether. Think about how many more people would do that if data caps didn’t exist? Throttle data, by all means, that’s how wireless access is sold in several European countries, but remove the data caps.

Maybe we’re just naïve, but we think that the future is all about everything being wireless. From electricity, to data pipes, to the A/V connections to our television. The way data is currently priced, that future is being stunted.

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alec-Rosen/100003295444884 Alec Rosen

    I guess Oceanside, CA won’t be getting 4G LTE in 2011. Some “extended coverage” has appeared on the map but most of the city still has zero 4G coverage. They started building San Diego’s coverage in 2010 and have not made as much progress as other metro areas. It’s really sad that the third largest city in the San Diego MSA is still waiting for coverage. So many rural areas around here have full 4G LTE but not this densely populated city.