With all the AT&T and T-Mobile hullabaloo, it’s easy to forget that the former is still planning on launching its LTE network this year. More specifically, the carrier plans on launching its 4G LTE network this summer – you know, the real 4G and none of this we-want-to-pretend-HSPA-plus-is-4G stuff. Hopefully we AT&T customers will start seeing data transfer speeds like Verizon customers are – somewhere in the neighborhood of the high teens for downloads, and around 3-5Mbps up.
We just received information from a trusted source that the earliest we’ll see LTE in New York City is June 30, which is just over a month from now. We were also given info which points us to a July 24 activation date for LTE in Los Angeles – that’s when the network will light up and be ready for use. This is great news for AT&T customers, but it doesn’t mean that 4G LTE devices will suddenly start falling from the skies and into retail stores. We’ll likely see mobile hotspots and USB modems first, which will allow us to connect our laptops and iPad tablets to the speedy new network before we start seeing smartphones with high-speed LTE capabilities.
