Skip to main content

Verizon’s 4G LTE service available to two-thirds of U.S. population with expansion

4g phones verizon
Image used with permission by copyright holder

As mentioned within a press release earlier today, Verizon is introducing 4G LTE into 27 new markets this week in addition to improving the data service within 44 markets around the United States. When this expansion is completed on April 19, sixty-six percent of the U.S. population will be able to take advantage of the faster download speeds offered by a 4G data connection. Major markets that will receive an upgrade to existing 4G coverage this week include Phoenix, San Francisco, San Diego, Nashville, Portland, Salt Lake City, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Boston, Detroit, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and New York City.

Markets that will receive 4G LTE service for the first time this week include:

  • verizon 4g coverage better than attAuburn, Alabama
  • Tuscaloosa, Alabama
  • Pine Bluff, Arkansas 
  • Siloam Springs, Arkansas
  • Van Buren, Arkansas
  • Visalia, California
  • Porterville, California
  • Fort Walton Beach, Florida
  • Ocala, Florida
  • Brunswick, Georgia
  • LaGrange, Georgia
  • Macon, Georgia
  • Warner Robins, Georgia
  • Peoria, Illinois
  • Kokomo, Indiana
  • Logansport, Indiana
  • Marion, Indiana
  • LG Lucid 4G LTE VerizonDodge City, Kansas
  • Garden City, Kansas
  • Great Bend, Kansas
  • Hays, Kansas
  • Salisbury, Maryland
  • Cattaraugus, New York
  • Allegany, New York
  • Sandusky, Ohio
  • Ardmore, Oklahoma
  • Ponca City, Oklahoma
  • Salem, Oregon
  • Albany, Oregon
  • Corvallis, Oregon
  • Pierre, South Dakota
  • Big Springs, Texas
  • Tyler, Texas

With this expansion, Verizon now offers 4G LTE service to 230 markets and is still moving much faster than competitors like AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. For instance, AT&T has covered 32 markets with the high speed upgrade, but plans to double that amount before the end of 2012. Sprint plans to have 4G coverage available to 120 million U.S. consumers by the end of 2012 and T-Mobile is waiting until 2013 to embrace 4G upgrades within the network. Similar to AT&T current plan of action, T-Mobile is relying on HSPA+ technology to provide faster data speeds than 3G during the interim. For instance, AT&T HSPA+ service allows iPhone 4S owners to connect to a faster connection labeled “4G” while AT&T works on expanding LTE coverage prior to the upcoming revision of the popular Apple smartphone. 

Mike Flacy
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
MediaTek hikes 4G chipset prices by 15% as supply chain woes continue
mediatek rick tsai interview 5g soc notepad

The ongoing supply chain crisis has hit many industries and resulted in price hikes and product delays across the globe. We've covered it extensively here and seen its impact across product categories from computing to mobile. There have already been reports about Qualcomm mulling a price hike on its mobile chipsets, and production issues have hit even Apple.

Now Taiwanese chip maker MediaTek has raised prices on its mobile chipsets by 15%, according to a recent report. MediaTek, which draws most of its revenues from 5G and 4G mobile chipsets, has recently seen an uptick in demand as there has been a newfound acceptance of its 4G and 5G processors in the smartphone industry. 

Read more
Ookla’s Speedtest determines the fastest 5G provider in the U.S.
T-Mobile smartphone.

Ookla's third-quarter market report and Speedtest Intelligence tests have determined that T-Mobile is the fastest 5G provider among U.S. networks across both cellular and broadband providers. Opensignal and Umlaut have also confirmed T-Mobile to be the best 5G provider in many categories.

T-Mobile managed to dominate the competition on Speedtest with little to no contest at 135.17 Mbps median 5G download speeds. In contrast, Verizon only barely scraped past AT&T with 78.94 Mbps and 72.46 Mbps, respectively. That's not all Ookla tested; it also tracked mobile and broadband speeds, dependability, and latency among the providers. You can see the breakdown below.
Mobile statistics
T-Mobile's median download speeds came out the fastest at 62.35 Mbps, while AT&T sat at 47.42 Mbps and Verizon at 39.91 Mbps. For latency, T-Mobile and Verizon tied for first with a speed of 33ms. AT&T was barely behind at 34ms.
Broadband statistics
Verizon Wireless was the winning provider with a 178.38 Speed Score -- Ookla's unique test is meant to fully encompass a provider's range of speeds. Cox came in second and Xfinity in third. Verizon also took the best latency, with only 8ms with Cox at just 11ms. While Xfinity took the highest Consistency Score at 89.8%, Spectrum and Verizon were so close behind there wasn't much difference to note.

Read more
AT&T just made it a lot easier to upgrade your phone
AT&T Storefront with logo.

Do you want to upgrade your phone more than once a year? What about three times a year? Are you on AT&T? If you answered yes to those questions, then AT&T’s new “Next Up Anytime” early upgrade program is made for you. With this add-on, you’ll be able to upgrade your phone three times a year for just $10 extra every month. It will be available starting July 16.

Currently, AT&T has its “Next Up” add-on, which has been available for the past several years. This program costs $6 extra per month and lets you upgrade by trading in your existing phone after at least half of it is paid off. But the new Next Up Anytime option gives you some more flexibility.

Read more