Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Verizon's Handoff Delays Show Signs of Early Release

Carrier-grade operations are supposed to be carrier grade: In its enthusiasm to have LTE operating in multiple markets before year's end, Verizon Wireless let a few gears slip. That's unfortunate, because now they've set the expectation that the service isn't ready for prime time as a result. Reports of performance have been quite excellent on an unloaded network.

The problem? Computerworld reports that a handoff from 3G to LTE can take up to two minutes. A spokesperson told the reporter, "Hand-offs can take up to a couple minutes, but that was expected and a fix is in the works."

If it simply were an inherent problem, that's one thing. But it's clear this can be fixed in software, and is considered a bug. That makes it far less acceptable. In the olden days, products weren't shipped broadly until bugs that would frustrate your early adopting, high-paying customers were worked out. Bragging rights were more important here.



LTE Is About Capacity, Coverage, and Latency, Not Just Bandwidth