As promised last month, carrier AT&T this morning confirmed plans to roll out its 4G LTE network in new markets, beginning April 8. Of the planned twelve cities, the carrier will turn on 4G LTE in three cities this coming Sunday: Muncie and Bloomington, Indiana, as well as Bryan-College Station, Texas.
AT&TÂ is still lagging behind rival Verizon Wireless when it comes to 4G LTE coverage. Not that their iPhone customers care – that is, until a sixth-generation model with 4G LTE support arrives later this year – but those with a 4G LTE iPad 3 might want to take notice.
Apart from these three launches, the carrier is scheduled to flip the switch on 4G LTE in an additional ten markets later this month, in May and into the early summer:Â Naples, Fla.; Lafayette, Ind.; Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La.; St. Louis, Mo; Akron, Canton and Cleveland, Ohio; and Staten Island in New York City.
Unlike Android makers, Apple held off supporting 4G LTE in its iPhone lineup because early chips were power hogs, the technology was not mature enough and, most importantly, for the fact that major wireless operators in the United States wouldn’t finish commercial 4G LTE deployment until at least the end of 2012.
The top cell tower image is credited to Flickr user “forklift”.
Do you care about 4G LTE or are you holding off until it becomes widely available?
If you live in one of the 4G LTE-enabled cities, we’d love to hear about your network experience and speeds down in the comments.