It appears as though Verizon is ready to unleash a new era of mobile broadband with its LTE 4G wireless technology which is set to debut nationwide next month including six major cities in Florida including Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach, and Miami.
Verizon's LTE promises broadband speeds of 3mb/sec as opposed to 3G speeds which averages about 500kb/sec on a "good" day. LTE will likely be compatible with only laptops at initialy; however, LTE smartphones are apparently in the works according to industry insiders. They are expected to to hit the market sometime in the first half of 2011.
The delay of compatible smartphones are partly due to the fact that carriers have yet to solidify voice traffic standards for LTE. An initiative dubbed VoLTE was formed by the GSM Association for the very purpose of developing LTE by proposing features such call hold, call waiting and call barring for the final standard. As of now, it is believed that Verizon will utilize dual-radio technology in order to support data services and voice traffic via 4G and 3G respectively.
While 6 of the 38 cities in which LTE will launch are located in Florida, it is not yet known when the technology will eventually make its way to Southwest Florida. The latest LTE coverage information can be viewed at Verizon's LTE promotion website.
Verizon's LTE promises broadband speeds of 3mb/sec as opposed to 3G speeds which averages about 500kb/sec on a "good" day. LTE will likely be compatible with only laptops at initialy; however, LTE smartphones are apparently in the works according to industry insiders. They are expected to to hit the market sometime in the first half of 2011.
The delay of compatible smartphones are partly due to the fact that carriers have yet to solidify voice traffic standards for LTE. An initiative dubbed VoLTE was formed by the GSM Association for the very purpose of developing LTE by proposing features such call hold, call waiting and call barring for the final standard. As of now, it is believed that Verizon will utilize dual-radio technology in order to support data services and voice traffic via 4G and 3G respectively.
While 6 of the 38 cities in which LTE will launch are located in Florida, it is not yet known when the technology will eventually make its way to Southwest Florida. The latest LTE coverage information can be viewed at Verizon's LTE promotion website.