Verizon Wireless was the first operator in the United States to launch a 4G LTE network. They did it back in December 2010, though we had to wait until March 2011 to be able to buy the first 4G LTE enabled smartphone, the HTC Thunderbolt. Since then Verizon’s been growing their network at a ridiculous clip, and they say that by the end of 2013 they’ll have 4G LTE coverage wherever they have 3G coverage today. Before we get to 2013 though, what are Verizon’s goals for 2012? David Small, Chief Technical Officer at Verizon Wireless, says that “by the end of the year, our plan is to be in at least 400 markets across the country.” To put that into some perspective, Verizon is presently in about 200 markets. Now “market” is a vague term since that could mean a city with 50,000 people or a city with more than 3 million people. How many actual Americans does Verizon actually plan to cover by Christmas 2012? More than 260 million, which is about 83.4% of the people. Compare that to AT&T, who has a goal of covering just 150 million people by the end of this year with their respective 4G LTE network.
So why is Verizon working so hard? Because when you’re not connected to their 4G LTE network you’re connected to their slow as molasses 3G network. You’ll be lucky to get a megabit per second on that. Meanwhile AT&T is working hard to upgrade their 3G network to use the latest in HSPA+ technology. When you’re not connected to their 4G LTE network and getting 50+ megabits per second down you’ll be put on their 21 Mbps HSPA+ network, which should give you anywhere between 5 and 9 megabits per second. That’s almost an order of magnitude faster than Verizon.
It all boils down to speed or coverage? That’s the trade-off Americans are faced with. AT&T’s network is, without question, faster, but you’ll be hunting for a signal to be able to tap into that speed. Meanwhile Verizon works damn near everywhere, but you may have to wait an extra second or two for your favorite website to render.
We know which network we’d rather be on.
[Via: The Verge, The Wall Street Journal]
Update: Our commenters have reminded us that MetroPCS was actually the first American operator to launch a 4G LTE network. They were also the first to launch an Android smartphone with 4G LTE, the Samsung Galaxy Indulge.