Verizon Wireless confirmed late last week that its USB LTE modems can experience a delay when transitioning from an EVDO connection to an LTE connection. According to Verizon spokesperson Jeffrey Nelson, customers with a USB modem may experience a delay of up to two minutes during this handoff procedure. CTO Tony Melone perviously mentioned the possibility of a brief handoff delay, but for someone traveling in and out of 4G coverage, a downtime of up to two minutes would hardly be considered brief.
All is not doom and gloom as this delay “was expected” Nelson says, and “a fix is in the works.” It is not known when the update will be released, but Nelson noted that Verizon is working with the modem manufacturer to quickly resolve this problem. He failed to confirm which manufacturer is handling this fix, but Business Insider reportedly experienced this handoff delay with LG’s LTE modem. Verizon launched its LTE network on December 5th in 39 cities and currently offers two LTE modems, one from LG and one from Pantech.
On a positive note, early reports suggest Verizon’s LTE network is performing as expected. Customers are reporting speeds at or above the advertised 5 to 12Mbps down and 5Mbps up. Nelson also confirmed Verizon is working on Mac drivers for the two modems and should have the drivers ready relatively soon. w00t!
[Via PC World]