But ultimately, the main target is AT&T, the nation's other dominant mobile operator. Verizon's archrival doesn't plan to offer LTE until next year, though it will deploy HSPA+, the same technology T-Mobile is advertising as 4G, in the meantime. In a blog entry on Wednesday, AT&T CTO John Donovan, a clear reference to Verizon.

As carriers roll out their new networks, competition will put strong pressure on service pricing, analysts said.

"I anticipate a price battle, for sure," said Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall. "Price is what these guys are going to be focused on to try to drive demand to their networks."

Verizon's competitive needs are the subscriber's boon, at least for now, Hays said. He expects the aggressive pricing to continue for at least six to 12 months. However, LTE is unlikely to remain cheaper than 3G in the long term, he said.

The superior speed of the network also complicates the pricing picture. Verizon says its LTE network will offer downstream speeds of 5M bps (bits per second) to 12M bps and upstream speeds of 2M bps to 5Mbps. At roughly 10 times the speed of its 3G EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) network, LTE may lead subscribers to use it as they would a wired connection, using video or other applications that may have been frustratingly slow on 3G, said analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates. If they do, the 5GB cap on Verizon's least-expensive plan may come into play.