Comments on: Verizon Wireless to begin LTE rollout in Q4 2009?

By: tony

tony — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:15:36 +0000

@kelly

all i’m saying is that they aren’t going to make femtocells that aren’t needed. there is a point. we don’t know what it is, but there is one.

By: Kelly Hodgkins

Kelly Hodgkins — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:13:20 +0000

@zeek and tony,
the source article did not give any details about the femtocells other than they will be LTE based and may have WiFi. All this info is still very much preliminary and not very detailed.

By: tony

tony — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:35:07 +0000

@zeek

lte is for voice too. the femtocells will serve the same purpose as they do now.

By: Zeek

Zeek — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:23:27 +0000

So…. I am confused about the femto comments in the article … The femto’s we have seen so far all use DSL/Cable connections for backhaul. Are we to buy a femtocell for LTE, and then be forced to keep our Land-based HSI for its backhaul? I don’t see WTF the point would be… and the femto will offer WiFi? Congratufigginlations… WiFi is the one wireless product that already works well in my house (who DOESN’T already have a wifi router?) I would foresee a bigger market for LTE (and WiMAX for that matter) repeaters, or even high gain antenna products for home coverage rather than femtocells. If the whole idea is to get me to leave my traditional HSI for wireless, it kinda defeats the purpose if I have to keep it to give VZW free backhaul.

By: Likeabite

Likeabite — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:59:34 +0000

The ability to use a large number of handsets is a huge step in its own right.

By: Verizon Guy

Verizon Guy — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:42:06 +0000

This makes total sense to me–but I don’t think VZW is too worried about Sprint/Clearwire. They’re focused on AT&T as their primary competition. AT&T still has room to grow on their current network with HSPA+ debuting some time next year. Verizon has made no additional commitments to EVDO Rev. B/C (has any carrier?) and probably wants to leverage an early LTE deployment as a strategic advantage over AT&T.

I wouldn’t expect 50+mbps with the initial rollout–I’m not saying VZW will cripple their network but I don’t think early commercial devices will be capable of those sustained speeds.

By: Don Louie

Don Louie — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:54:21 +0000

Sprint and thier Wi Max put a little pressure on them maybe? Clear and Sprint 4G will have been around for some months by then

By: tony

tony — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:30:24 +0000

@ doggie

For something that isn’t going anywhere they sure have been stiff competition. There are way more cdma users than gsm in the u.s.

By: tony

tony — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:25:05 +0000

Verizon/att phones still won’t be interchangable for a while. The verizon phones will be cdma/lte and att will be gsm/lte. If you use one on the other network you will only have lte coverage. Once the networks are big and reliable enough it won’t matter but when it first comes out it will matter.

By: DOGIEFRESH 3G

DOGIEFRESH 3G — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:08:01 +0000

They’re smart, finally they realize that CDMA is not going anywhere and it can’t compete with HSPA.

By: southbay11

southbay11 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:34:16 +0000

Im excited that Verizon is going to finally be on LTE. Why? Because the phone market will just get that much better. With VZW right now, your stuck with whatever phone they offer. With LTE you’ll be able to use a vast majority of phones out there. The other good thing about LTE and a CDMA network is there is no network outages(hopefully) when creating LTE. Since they are different networks they should operate independently(again hopefully). When ATT switched over to 3G this past year there where all kinds of network outages. Oh well it should make for some interesting events not the “best network” guys are starting over and are on the same playing field with the competition.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:12:47 +0000

Back @ you, Roger A – I’m leaning toward getting a Wi-Max card with no contract soon to check it out. I ditched my landline and went with a ATTWS broadband card six months ago as I’m working on the road and it’s OK – my work at the coast and around Seattle are covered with 3G and I was GF’ed in with no overage fees, but it’s a little slow sometimes.

Got a taste of the new card and it’s really pretty sweet – not cable-sweet, but enough to work well for me. I’ve got a few accounts with ATTWS and VZ and I’ll be done with those contracts about when LTE rolls out.

I’m looking to see if we can get one of those new EVDO/Wi-Max cards available in Baltimore and with unlimited data. Gotta make my accountant work for his money this year!

By: EPS

EPS — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:32:29 +0000

Verizon won’t be shutting down the CDMA/EV-DO networks to introduce LTE, the LTE will be put on the new spectrum that they bought in the 700Mhz range. Just like they kept the analog network up for a very long time after introducing CDMA, the CDMA/EV-DO network will likely be kept for long enough that by the time they pull the plug, only a very small number of people will be left.

By: Dark Cobra

Dark Cobra — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:20:35 +0000

This is interesting. I asked at the very beginning if all new phones would be needed for LTE and someone said yes. If that’s the case then who would buy an existing Verizon phone in 2009 if it’s going to be obsolete in less than a year? Verizon has to find a way to make existing phone run on LTE. I think the existing chips in our phones have to be able to handle this new network. Any more thoughts on this?

By: EPS

EPS — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:19:30 +0000

On LTE there will be no such thing as “voice” like it exists on CDMA/GSM/UMTS/whatever, or so I’ve heard- I believe the plan is to transition everything to VoIP-based systems running over the more robust data network.

By: JustAGuy

JustAGuy — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:53:57 +0000

umm… it’s possible to do data and voice concurrently on 3G, it BETTER be possible on a 4G network!

By: Canz I haz an iPhonz plzz?

Canz I haz an iPhonz plzz? — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:28:55 +0000

Hmmmm.. iPhone LTE?

By: smokeyjoefrasier

smokeyjoefrasier — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:40:54 +0000

With LTE, it is possible to do voice and data at the same time?

By: DubYa

DubYa — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:13:10 +0000

This move makes sense. CDMA is done from a speed perspective. They have pretty much maxed out CDMA Rev A. Investing anything more in CDMA is a waiste of money so sure, in order to stay competitive from a network speed perspective they will need to move to LTE.

But, don’t be mislead by the 4G tag on LTE and WiMAX. UMTS, or 3G for GSM, with future upgrades will still be as fast if not faster than early deployments of these future technologies.

By: Miacol

Miacol — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:00:41 +0000

Finally Vodafone gets to move Verizon to a world stage and now I’ll have some options from ATT and Verizon (T-Mobile sucks in my home country). When Verizon wireless sold Verizon Wireless Latin America, they started to make the move to GSM leaving CDMA behind, so now I only have 1 choice ATT, but with Verizon moving to LTE I can pickup an LTE Vodafone cell and use it here.

Though does anyone think ATT will move their plans forwards to directly compete with Verizon. In the world stage what does this mean? Also how come I see the doom of Sprint? With their decision to move to WiMax over LTE what does that mean?

By: MadMike

MadMike — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:30:38 +0000

I’m normally the first one to grab the new tech, but in this case – I’m going to wait. I like LTE over WiMax mostly because LTE is going to be the defacto “world standard” by sheer majority of carriers.

Sprint has been in a death spiral for two years now and they are profusely bleeding capital and subscribers.

What irks me is, these companies have all these hundreds of billions in the bank yet we are stuck paying such high prices and bitching about lack of coverage and stupid bandwidth caps. That, right there, is bullshit.

By: Roger A

Roger A — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:21:36 +0000

@Chris – being a former Portland resident you are one lucky person. Sprint uses Portland as a trial/beta market for a ton of new products (Free and Clear America) was tested (I was a beta tester for that) back in 2001-2002. So if you looking for new advances, stick with Sprint/Clearwire. Verizon has problems covering that area, just north in Centralia is who..Verizon using Sprints network and infrastructure (or at least used to) to roll out things. Does that say much?

Personally Im thinking Verizon is pooping a bit now that Sprint/Clearwire has pushed forward a few markets in the last week. Good for Verizon for showing dedication, shame its not T-Mobile (cause then I might like LTE over WiMAX)… till then, Im 100$ WiMAX dedicated.

By: Witty!

Witty! — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:17:57 +0000

I lol’d @ free porn.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:53:18 +0000

So, two questions:
I live in PDX and I can now get unlimited WiMax with no contract for $50 a month for wireless broadband. Good deal or no? I think it’s a good deal – it offers an easy out when VZW gets it together.

Is VZW going to give up or raise their broadband cap for their data users? With those speeds and so much crap on the web running in the background (ads, movies) and free porn out there – one can blow through 5 GB in a matter of days. That cap had better be gone or raised to a realistic volume of data.

By: 1adonis1

1adonis1 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:45:05 +0000

New phones will be needed of course. If they get some new HTC WM phones (htc hd like), I’d consider a move away from AT&T.

By: dante

dante — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:44:42 +0000

It won’t happen.

By: Dark Cobra

Dark Cobra — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:28:15 +0000

Well on the surface this is great news. However, my very next reaction is what will Verizon find to immediately and intentionally “cripple” within their own new super fast 4G network? They’ll no doubt find SOMETHING to cripple for sure. Second question is are existing phones compatible with 4G or will all new phones be needed?

By: Likeabite

Likeabite — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Bring it ON!!!