Verizon launching 4G LTE service in Starkville in 2011

[nsvltndog]

<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#800080" face="Calibri">[url="http://news.vzw.com/news/2011/03/pr2011-03-21a.html"]http://news.vzw.com/news/2011/03/pr2011-03-21a.html</font>[/url]</p>

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Interesting pick by Verizon choosing Starkville as the first and only market in the state of Mississippi that will have their 4G LTE serviceby the end of 2011 unless AT&T or Cellular South make some announcements soon. As for sports related, how about internet speeds on your cell phone that are faster than your typical home broadband connection while you are sitting through the halftime show at Davis Wade Stadium. You can basically watch sportscenter or another SEC game on your phone at these speeds.

WSJ.com had an article today stating that they tested the HTC Thunderbolt LTE phone from VZW in DC and Orlando and averaged download speeds of over 12Mbs - roughly 8 times as fast as current 3G data rates. I hope it is in place before football season kicks off.

8 SEC Towns are on the list of 145 cities. Auburn, Oxford, Lexington, and Tuscaloosa are missing. </p>

 

[pDigital32Dawg]

But I wouldn't be banking on lightning fast speeds during game day when the towers are completely jammed.

 

[Sutterkane]

It is a major drain on battery life. My wife got a thunderbolt when it came out last week and the phone go 24 hours with it on without it dying, even if she keeps it in standby. With regular usage she's lucky to get 4-6 hours out of it.

 

[catvet]

and checked out the Thunderbolt the other day. The HTC rep was there and said that it and the ATT Insipire were about 90% the same phone, but ATT has no 4LTE service--or real 4G network at this point. The Verizon staff said that they hope to get 4 LTE service in the Jackson area by the end of the year or the first couple of months of next year. I realize that you have to pay for the new technology, but the price floored me. To get 450 minutes of talk time ($39.99) and 5 GB of data ($50.00 + $10.00 for every GB over that amount) plus taxes gets you to around $100.00/month. I think alot of folks are going to want to stay with 3G service, especially if you are a lite data user.

 

[nsvltndog]

The providers are starting to get better about covering sports venues. Not sure whether the conceptwill make it to Starkville in 2011, but they are deploying distributed antenna system solutions in stadiums which in layman's terms is the equivalent of adding a bunch of extra cell sites in the immediate vicinity of the venue, in many cases within the stadium infrastructure itself.All cellular providers have the capability of doing this. I think Cellular South has done something like this at DWS in the past.

As for 2011,as long as it is deployed in time I think it could work real well at DWSb/c only folks that have upgraded to anLTE phonecan use the LTE network. Very few people in Mississippi will purchase a $250 phonewhen Starkville is the only market that offers the service. A lot of people are going to look at the economics that catvet laid out in his post andnot be willing to make the transition. Once it's popular and everyone has an LTE phone,we will need to hope they deploy the distributed antenna system at DWS.

The battery technology will most likely get better over time with LTE phones. It almost always sucks initially when shifting to a new generation of cell phones.</p>

 

[MSUDawg25]

And the battery life is day and night compared to a text and talk only phone. I have and HTC Desire, and even with no internet-playing, angry birds, or other extra-curriculars it doesn't last eighteen hours. If I am using it a good bit, I will have to put it on the charger by lunch time. Have tried several battery lengthening apps, and most do very little to help. My old motorola do-nothing phone could go three to four days without a charge.

 

[Arthur2478]

ATT has no 4LTE service

That's no longer true. This past Sunday, AT&T announced it was acquiring T-Mobile (along with it's LTE network) for 39 Billion. Here is a article about it. This quote is from AT&T's press release: "AT&T commits to a significant expansion of robust 4G LTE deployment to 95 percent of the U.S. population to reach an additional 46.5 million Americans beyond current plans – including rural communities and small towns."

or real 4G network at this point.

Don't get too enamored with the term 4G. There is no governing authority that says what is 4G and what isn't 4G. It's essentially a marketing tool. There is an interesting article about this in this month's Popular Mechanics. There are several different kinds of 4G (4th Generation) networks. Some of theses 4G networks aren't even as fast as AT&T's 3G network, although the LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network seems to have taken a big step forward.

 

[TXDawg.sixpack]

Didn't they deploy their COW's (Cell on Wheels) during Katrina as a way to get their network operational faster?

 

[catvet]

there are extensive articles on the internet and print saying that their HSPA+ 4G service is not operational in 95% plus of the country and that their two 4G phones-the Inspire and Atrix- have slower data transmission than their 3G phones: my 3G iphone has faster data service than their 4G phones. What ATT is calling their 4G service at this point is the HSPA+ with extended backhaul to their cell towers: the problem is that while virtually all towers now have been equiped with HSPA+ equipment, the backhaul aspect has only been completed in less than 5% of the towers. That means outside a few large cities, everyone of their 4G phones only works on 3G at this time. For most of the country, they have no real 4G service. That is supposed to change for alot of the nation by the end of the year, but not at this point. ATT is late in the 4 LTE game as well and won't begin to offer this service until toward the end of the year.

As for the T Mobile acqusition, there are some saying that it will face great scrutiny since the main reasoon ATT sites is the need of expanded bandwith for their 4G networks, yet they purchased a ton of open bandwith last year for the expressed purpose of operating a 4G network. It is very possible that the FCC will not allow this sale to take place.

I have ATT and have had spotty service here and there. Verizon has better coverage throughout the nation, and no one speaks highly of their customer service that I know of, but they have 4LTE for a third of the nation at this point and will cover over half the nation by the year's end. ATT is not very progressive and still doesn't cover large portions of the nation with 3G, nevermind 4G.

Lastly, I spoke with a person in the Bulldog Club office and he said that they understand that ATT service at DWS is in need of an upgrade and are negotiating with ATT for more coverage.

 

[Brutius]

it goes with the territory. I have 2 backup external battery sources for my iphone and a plug at every place I may be, work, bedroom, living room, bathroom.<div>
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