Verizon Wireless announced on Wednesday that it will “turn on” its fourth generation LTE wireless network this coming Sunday, December 5, fulfilling its promise to launch in 30 cities by year’s end. The fledgling network should give users in 38 cities speeds up to 10 times faster than its current 3G EV-DO network, the company said, though smartphone users will have to wait for new LTE-compatible handsets to reap any benefit.
Verizon’s LTE network is designed to offer speeds of 5-12Mbps in “real-world, loaded network environments.” Those data speeds will initially be available only to mobile broadband users who opt for new LG VL600 or Pantech UML290 USB modems, both of which cost $100 with a two-year contract and after a $50 rebate. Both modems offer automatic fall-back to Verizon’s 3G network when 4G signal isn’t available, but since Verizon built its 4G network using 700MHz spectrum, getting a signal shouldn’t be a problem within the urban areas it’s offered.
Like many 3G mobile broadband data plans, Verizon is pricing LTE access in tiers. The two plans currently available are $50 per month for 5GB of data, or $80 per month for 10GB. Both plans offer additional 1GB increments for $10 each. These prices are fairly comparable to similar 3G plans. Sprint and its WiMax partner Clear continue to offer unlimited data with most of their prepaid 4G data plans for the time being.
Initial coverage includes 38 cities and metropolitan areas (see below), which Verizon says covers “one-third of all Americans.” That includes big cities like New York, San Francisco, Chicago, DC, Atlanta, Seattle, Dallas-Ft Worth, and Boston, but also smaller areas like Akron, Ohio; Athens, Georgia; and West Lafayette, Indiana (Boiler up!). Those cities are supplemented by coverage in 60 airports around the country. Verizon plans to have its entire 3G coverage area upgraded to LTE by 2013.
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