Fast 4G LTE service may be offered by Verizon Wireless by the end of the year, with AT&T aiming to launch its 4G service by the middle of next year. Both Verizon and AT&T will use LTE, while Sprint is using WiMAX. Verizon will use the 700-MHz spectrum it licensed from the FCC in the U.S., and could offer an LTE version of Apple's iPhone.
The 4G wireless Relevant Products/Services wars are in full swing. On Thursday, Verizon Wireless said its LTE network Relevant Products/Services will be in place in 30 U.S. cities by the end of 2010, and an AT&T executive recently said its 4G LTE network will be launched by the middle of next year. Sprint Nextel has also been building out its 4G network, using the rival WiMAX technology Relevant Products/Services.
According to news reports, enterprise Relevant Products/Services IT Relevant Products/Services managers at a meeting in Maryland were told by Verizon senior sales executive Bernie McMonagle that his company intends to have its 4G wireless network in place in 30 National Football League cities, with the rest of the country by 2013. AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey recently told a communications conference that his company is getting its LTE network ready for launch. AT&T trials are currently under way in Baltimore and Dallas.
Verizon's 700-MHz Band
In the initial rollout, Verizon's 4G network is expected to have download speeds of five to 12 megabits per second, upload speeds of two to five Mbps, and very low latency. In a later phase, those speeds are expected to be increased. AT&T's network is expected to have comparable performance Relevant Products/Services.
4G, with its very-high-speed transmission, will allow wireless devices to more easily handle bandwidth-intensive files and apps, including movies, medical imagery, and collaborative games. There's also discussion that this jump in bandwidth could provide a similar boost to nascent technologies such as traffic sensors, appliances with embedded intelligence, and smart electrical grids.
At the Maryland meeting on Sept. 15, Verizon presented a live demo of seven simultaneous, broadcast-quality video feeds running wirelessly on one laptop Relevant Products/Services, with switching between feeds. But real-world network performance, with a huge number of devices and concurrent transmissions, will be another story.
The Verizon rollout utilizes the 700-MHz spectrum it licensed in the auction conducted by the Federal Communications Commission two years ago following the move of TV stations from analog to digital Relevant Products/Services transmissions. The same spectrum will be used throughout the U.S., instead of different frequencies in different markets, and the 700-MHz band can transmit further and more efficiently through buildings than existing bandwidths.
LTE iPhone?
No smartphones currently operate on 700 MHz, although the first 4G LTE phone, available through MetroPCS, was recently approved by the FCC. A condition of the FCC bandwidth licensing is that Verizon will allow third-party devices to be purchased from non-Verizon sources and used on its network under a service plan. The availability of a widespread 4G network within coming months could spur a wide range of manufacturers to offer such devices directly to consumers.
One interesting speculation is that, while Verizon is currently discussing LTE data Relevant Products/Services cards for laptops, its first LTE smartphone might be Apple's iPhone. For months, there have been reports that Apple is manufacturing an iPhone to be released through Verizon after its exclusive AT&T contract expires.
But a major push-back on those reports has been Verizon's current CDMA Relevant Products/Services network, since a CDMA iPhone would require a new Apple device for a network in the process of being phased out. But if Verizon is within months of making LTE available in 30 cities, a LTE iPhone could be in the works.