Verizon LTE storms the South and Midwest

19.04.2011
Now that Verizon has brought its network to most major markets in the United States, it has started to move its 4G services into medium-size markets in the South and the Midwest.

Verizon announced this week that four markets in Pennsylvania (Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and Leigh Valley), two markets in Tennessee (Cleveland and Clarksville), two markets in South Carolina (Hilton Head and Columbia) and one in North Carolina (Wilmington) would soon get LTE coverage.

ANALYSIS:

Verizon last year became the first major U.S. carrier to adopt LTE (Long Term Evolution) and last month rolled out its first LTE smartphone, the . LTE is essentially a bridge from 3G technologies such as HSPA and EV-DO Rev. A to the 4G IMT-Advanced technologies that the International Telecommunications Union has said will support speeds up to 100Mbps.

The company made its initial LTE launch in 38 major markets covering roughly one-third of the U.S. population. The carrier plans to have its entire current 3G footprint upgraded to LTE by the end of 2013.

As far as speeds go, initial tests of the LTE network showed data downloads frequently topping 10Mbps in most major markets, although these tests were run when the network had just started and didn't have much congestion to deal with. A test released in March by PC World showed that Verizon's LTE laptop air cards provided average download speeds of 6.5Mbps and average upload speeds of 5Mbps.