Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Verizon Wireless LTE Launches 5 December

The 5–12 Mbps downstream 4G service will launch 5 December 2010 in 38 US markets and 60 airports: Verizon is still engaged in ridiculous pricing. The service will cost $50 per month for 5 GB or $80 per month for 10 GB of data transfer. Given that the cost per bit should be enormously cheaper for Verizon Wireless, and that they should be pricing this competitively with wired broadband carriers in the same market, that's absurd.

Clearwire's hybrid Sprint 3G/Clear 4G pricing makes much more sense. Unlimited usage on 4G Clear network, and same 5 GB limit on Sprint's home 3G EVDO network.

Carriers and ISPs continue to try to retain same limits even as services bump up faster. Comcast has the same 250 GB monthly usage cap on its cable service, whether you're at 15 Mbps or 100 Mbps.

LTE is required to serve next-generation mobile devices with streaming media, low latency, and heavy interactive use straining under CDMA 3G speeds today, although AT&T and T-Mobile move into faster HSPA rates alleviates that in part. But LTE will also become an alternative in some markets to fixed broadband, if Verizon offers sensible pricing.

You can check on which markets are covered at Verizon Wireless's 4G coverage map. I'm hoping to get review gear to test, as Seattle is a launch market.



Verizon Wireless Releases 3G Femtocell