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Gadgets Boston and Seattle to be First with Verizon LTE Service
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - August 14, 2009 11:00 AM

33 comment(s) - last by lagitup.. on Aug 17 at 4:01 AM

The two cities will get LTE by the end of 2009

The next big format battle in the technology world will likely be that of WiMAX and LTE. WiMAX is already available in a few select cities around the country while LTE is still in the testing phase. However, Verizon is looking to start some commercial LTE rollouts this year.

InformationWeek reports that Verizon Wireless President and COO Denny Strigl has clarified the company's LTE game plan at a recent analysts meeting. He said, "We are working on a launch of commercial LTE services and up to 30 markets next year. Our plan is to cover 100 million POPS. In 2011 and 2012, we will continue to expand significantly with the ultimate goal being to cover all of our POPS with this great product by the end of 2013."

Verizon has long said that it would begin its LTE rollout in 2009 and it has named its first two LTE markets. The first cities to get Verizon LTE service will be Boston and Seattle. InformationWeek reports that the two cities are logical choices with Verizon operating its LTE Innovation Center in Boston and the company has an agreement in place with Microsoft, based in Seattle, to provide search services for its mobile customers.

Wireless expert Joe Nordgaard told InformationWeek in an interview, "LTE will give Verizon Wireless a big competitive advantage. They are putting their 700 MHz spectrum to good use."

One key component of the Verizon LTE game plan that is still unknown is pricing. Verizon is mum on how much it hopes to charge for the LTE service. LTE is expected to provide speeds of 15 to 100 times faster than current 3G services in America. Norgaard says that he expects Verizon to be "reasonably competitive" with pricing for current offerings.

Before the new LTE service hits in Boston and Seattle users will need new handsets and new modems for laptops. The LTE service is said to be somewhat backwards compatible though.

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Oh well

By SiN on 8/14/2009 12:03:26 PM , Rating: 2

I'm in Europe so i'm not sure when this hit's our shores but i thought the LTE infrastructure was just a minor upgrade.

I'm sure the Carriers will figure a way to bill the hell out of it and put restrictive caps on it.

Anyone know is there a way to decentralize the web and give back privacy?

RE: Oh well

By dagamer34 on 8/14/2009 12:10:40 PM , Rating: 2

Definitely NOT minor. In fact, it will push forward the idea of having multiple constantly connected devices, effectively requiring IPv6 sooner or later.

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RE: Oh well

By mcnabney on 8/14/2009 1:24:40 PM , Rating: 2

Quite true and very good observation about IPv6. I hadn't thought about that for a while.

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RE: Oh well

By chrnochime on 8/15/2009 11:36:01 AM , Rating: 2

That and requiring configuration changes to countless network devices in the WAN cloud just to accommodate the IPv6 addressing for this small group of ppl? Sure...

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RE: Oh well

By ilkhan on 8/14/2009 12:22:42 PM , Rating: 2

VZW is a CDMA carrier, so building LTE is essentially adding a whole new network.
If VZW wants the phones to work outside of their LTE zone the phones will have to have both radios built in, or put in roaming agreements with ATT for 3G access.

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RE: Oh well

By TomZ on 8/14/2009 12:33:19 PM , Rating: 3

Here's some tech info from Motorola on LTE:

http://business.motorola.com/experiencelte/lte-dep...

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RE: Oh well

By hr824 on 8/14/2009 1:15:34 PM , Rating: 5

I just love the header picture from you link....Lady driving so fast the background is blurred but her focus is on her brat kid on the monitor while her husband is trying to bring her attention to his cell phone. I'm thinking that auto collision shops will like this service as well.

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RE: Oh well

By mcnabney on 8/14/2009 1:28:41 PM , Rating: 2

Actually, no.

LTE is a data technology, like EVDO and HSDPA. Moving on to LTE will be very much like moving from 1x to EVDO, but it will not be as simple as upgrading from EVDO rev0 to revA.
It is very likely that LTE will bring with it true IP voice so that eventually CDMA, 1x, and EVDO will not be necessary when the network is fully updated.

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RE: Oh well

By omnicronx on 8/14/2009 3:51:16 PM , Rating: 1

To be fair, although everything you say is true, LTE is an extentsion to UTMS, which has strong ties to GSM.

quote:
It is very likely that LTE will bring with it true IP voice

This is what I am hoping for, I get really miffed when I am downloading something only to have it canceled when I get a call..

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RE: Oh well

By dagamer34 on 8/14/09, Rating: 0

RE: Oh well

By Samus on 8/15/2009 3:24:22 AM , Rating: 1

I doubt you'll see this in Europe (or anywhere outside the United States...except for South Korea maybe) because of its CDMA spectrum.

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RE: Oh well

By lagitup on 8/17/2009 4:01:17 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
I doubt you'll see this in Europe (or anywhere outside the United States...except for South Korea maybe) because of its CDMA spectrum.

I was under the impression that LTE's roots are deep in GSM (leaving Sprint to be the only bloody CDMA carrier in the nation)?

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Good work Verizon

By HrilL on 8/14/2009 12:30:45 PM , Rating: 2

Now if only they got a new iPhone to use on their LTE network then I'd be all set to leave At&t forever =).

The service in my area is the same with either carrier but At&t has the worst customer service I'd ever had to deal with and while you wait on hold they play ads and keep telling you over Thank you for waiting and how important you are to them. If I was so damn important then why am I on hold for so damn long? And then you get a call center in India and you know how fun it is to deal with them.

Verizon on the other hand has calming music (good idea to keep angry customers calmer) And only tells you a few thank you for holding and then they say from now on you'll just hear music. For the most part you get an American to talk to and that is a big plus.

RE: Good work Verizon

By TomZ on 8/14/2009 12:49:11 PM , Rating: 2

I echo the above sentiments. Yesterday I had to call Verizon customer service and it was a pretty pleasant experience. Today I had to call AT&T and it was very annoying to put it mildly. Just like you said, on hold forever, lots of ads, stupid voice recognition menu system, rude person when I finally get to talk to a person.

I wish the monopoly that AT&T has on local landline service could for once and all be terminated. I would switch away from them immediately.

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RE: Good work Verizon

By ebakke on 8/14/2009 1:05:43 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
I wish the monopoly that AT&T has on local landline service could for once and all be terminated. I would switch away from them immediately.

Are you in an area with weak cell reception, or no high speed internet? Because either of those two could easily replace your AT&T local landline.

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RE: Good work Verizon

By StevoLincolnite on 8/14/2009 1:17:03 PM , Rating: 2

Here in Australia I am with a company called Westnet for Phone and Internet, I ring up, my call is instantly picked up and I'm talking to another Aussie who seems to have the answer for everything, if not they will go out of there way to make it so!

THAT is customer service, no idea what you lot are putting up with, but it's not Customer service.

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RE: Good work Verizon

By akugami on 8/15/2009 4:17:56 PM , Rating: 2

I wish all land line monopolies would be done with. Regardless of whether it's cable or phone lines, the companies with the monopolies all act like sh!t.

Here in Philadelphia, Verizon has been fighting for years to get a cable license in the Philadelphia region while Comcast has been gumming up the works just as long. Earlier this year Verizon finally got the cable license so presumably next year they'll begin digging up the streets of Philadelphia to install fiber lines.

Verizon could have already installed fiber but it didn't make sense to only sell high speed internet and not cable TV service at the same time so they have stalled on it while many of the surrounding suburbs have already gotten fiber. Competition would presumably lower the insane costs of cable in Philadelphia (as well as other areas).

What's even more funny is Comcast putting out a press release about welcoming competition.

Comcast is the runner up to the most hated company in America ballot that ran in consumerist.com.

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RE: Good work Verizon

By bhieb on 8/14/2009 1:37:46 PM , Rating: 2

We are serviced by a small telco that owns all the lines, and they are a blessing to work with. During our company's move to a VoIP system, we had the provider on site for Thur-Sat. We had an issue on our T1 lines, and something was not right. They sent someone to their switch in town on Saturday to get it re-provisioned, no charge either!!! All with about 12 hours notice. If I want a T1 serviced through Quest or ATT, it can take MONTHS.

Competition is a lovely thing, and I am soooo glad I don't have to deal with the big boys on a daily basis (well locally at least).

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RE: Good work Verizon

By StraightPipe on 8/14/2009 7:21:23 PM , Rating: 2

hmmm, something not right there. ATT has usually been on site for any kind of T-1 service interuption in 2 hours. You're paying for a business T-1 and you're waiting days for service? I can understand week long delay for provisioning, but not for an outage.

We recently switched our T-1's to a LEC that basically buys T-1's from AT+T and resells them. Now we call US-LEC, wait 45 minutes for them to start "diagnostic tests" then another hour to callback. Then they tell you they are dispatching an AT+T rep (since AT+T owns the lines,they service them too). About 4 hours later the AT+T repairman shows up.

So US-Lec, basically delays our repair by 2 hours (totaling 4) by adding another layer of idiots between me an the guy who fixes my problem.

//funny thing is, we still have the same repair guy who used to come when we were AT+T subscribers.

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RE: Good work Verizon

By dagamer34 on 8/14/2009 2:38:30 PM , Rating: 2

LTE isn't going to be everywhere when it launches in 2010. So unless Apple decides to stick a CDMA chip in their phone, Verizon is going to have to fall back on a GSM network for calls (and it certainly won't be AT&T).

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RE: Good work Verizon

By AlexWade on 8/15/2009 8:44:07 AM , Rating: 2

You got that right about AT&T customer service. However, I will give them this. Even thought they are incompetent, they are not rude. If you have ever had to deal with Sprint customer service, you will know what I mean. Sprint customer service is both incompetent and rude. And their cell phones don't work either.

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RE: Good work Verizon

By ggordonliddy on 8/16/2009 12:25:40 PM , Rating: 2

Please be as to ram your iPod up your iAss.

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Data Cap

By KineticArc on 8/14/2009 12:43:25 PM , Rating: 2

It would be nice to have a plan without a monthly data cap. 5GB a month for my usage is nowhere near enough (according to the current Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband plan). Isn't LTE supposed to be a viable broadband option for those who do not have access to cable or DSL? If there is a 5GB cap on the plans, I do not see how this is a viable alternative.

RE: Data Cap

By mcnabney on 8/14/2009 1:43:22 PM , Rating: 2

Wireless is inherently far more expensive than DSL/cable/fiber. The spectrum to broadcast over is very expensive and limited by law. There is actually a limiting capacity based upon the maximum amount of spectrum that can be owned in a market and how much capacity that spectrum can carry. Wired providers can always just add more substations, convert more channels to data, and run more fiber.
For example, cable can actually provide 800-950mhz of capacity to a 'neighborhood', but usually only provides 50-75. A market that has spectrum purchased up to the legal limit might have 45mhz to provide voice and data service. So every device that is utilizing that specific tower will need to share that capacity. (actually, it is usually two towers to allow smooth handoffs). For that reason, wireless providers are happy to provide up to 5GB, but doesn't want to allow Bittorrent and Hulu users drain their capacity. If there are ten jerkwads streaming video other customers are going to be getting very low transmission speeds and THAT isn't going to be good for customer retention. So truthfully, wireless internet providers really don't want your business if that is what you are going to do.

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RE: Data Cap

By invidious on 8/14/2009 4:30:24 PM , Rating: 3

Thats not completely true. The amount of channels you can fit into any given frequency range can be increased. It is very similiar to how CPU manufactures are always developing smaller printing processes to fit more paths into the same space.

You are right that wired broadband is usually cheaper, but that is only because the infastructure is already in place and is in relatively good shape in most urban areas. For areas with a centralized population where no high speed lines exist a large scale wireless internet system could be a very cost effective solution.

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tax payer funded.

By Uncle on 8/14/2009 2:44:11 PM , Rating: 3

I like this. Each and every time their is a taxpayer funded initiative that the companies get for free. 7.2 billion, get everyone connected,the companies get the money and the right to shaft the consumer for profit. If its taxpayer money they got to string out the lines, how come I don't see any benefits unless I keep paying more. This is a one sided socialism for the companies, and if the taxpayer complains, the companies tell them its called free enterprise.

RE: tax payer funded.

By phantom505 on 8/15/2009 8:50:20 AM , Rating: 2

I wish people would get it straight. That is fascism. And yes the US has turned very very fascist over the last 50 years.

socialism = government acts on behalf of the people for the sake of controlling limited or essential resources and to accomplish goals that companies can and will not risk/afford

fascism = government handing over their power to control limited or essential resources to proxies in the form of companies

Since we're about the last country on the planet that thinks fascism is sexy, don't be surprised in 50 years we're talking about being a province of China. It amazes me how people think letting companies squander resources is so much better than the Government. At least the government is responsible to us, who the heck are the companies responsible to?

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RE: tax payer funded.

By xsilver on 8/16/2009 8:56:57 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
who the heck are the companies responsible to?

shareholders!
but thats another whole can of worms where rich trust funds own large stakes in large corps.
Controlled via the rich rather than the poor.

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4g is coming

By harmaton on 8/14/2009 1:21:24 PM , Rating: 3

Are the cable/dsl companies fearing people will drop them just as cell phone users drop their land line?

RE: 4g is coming

By Hoser McMoose on 8/15/2009 11:22:00 PM , Rating: 2

In many cases the cable/dsl companies and the mobile phone companies are one and the same, or at the very least loosely related.

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You're building out what?

By StraightPipe on 8/14/2009 7:05:55 PM , Rating: 2

I'm still waiting for 3G in my city...

Was promised it would be rolled out in 1stQ 08...and then 1Q 09...and now they say it will be here in 4 days...

//Not holding my breath

These 2 cities

By rudy on 8/16/2009 12:34:47 AM , Rating: 2

Always get this stuff first and its kinda fustrating. Give it to a city that has few broadband competitors and see if you rake in the new account sign ups instead of cities that are already at the peak of 3G and saturated with fios.