4G

Verizon to soon begin throttling select unlimited LTE customers

Cody Lee ∙ July 25, 2014

Back in 2011, Verizon began throttling data output for the top 5% of its 3G customers on unlimited data plans. The carrier had just picked up the iPhone, and was in the process of rolling out its LTE network, so it needed a low-cost way to save bandwidth.

Fast forward to today, and Verizon issued a press release announcing a similar policy for LTE customers. Starting in October, the company plans to start "optimizing its network," which is a nice way of saying it's going to start throttling high-volume users...

T-Mobile’s Operation Tablet Freedom: 4G LTE iPads at Wi-Fi prices, free data through 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

It is no secret that T-Mobile CEO John Legere is not one to mince words or back down from competition. Thus far, he’s delivered. The Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier, the fourth largest in the United States, has taken aim at rivals once again by unleashing the latest three-phase initiative that solves another customer pain point.

The new Uncarrier moves started yesterday with the announcement of a new Simple Starter Plan that includes unlimited talk and text with 500MB of 4G LTE data with no overage fees, for just $40 per month.

Thursday, T-Mobile made another huge announcement. For a limited time only, the carrier is offering 4G LTE tablets at Wi-Fi-only prices, with its interest-free financing that requires no downpayment and spreads the retail price of the device across 24 monthly installments.

Knowing Apple’s cellular-capable iPads cost $130 more versus their comparable Wi-Fi-only models, that’s a not-to-be-missed $130 savings right off the bat. Also, if you add a tablet to your voice plan, T-Mobile will treat you to up to sixteen gigabytes of free high-speed 4G LTE data through the end of the year...

T-Mobile plans to have most of its 2G network upgraded to LTE by mid-2015

Cody Lee ∙ Updated August 4, 2016

T-Mobile announced today that it has plans to upgrade its entire 2G/EDGE network to 4G LTE. The carrier, which is the fourth largest in the US, says it hopes to be halfway complete with the upgrade by the end of 2014 and expects to be substantially complete by the middle of next year.

The promise to quickly bring its network up to speed with its competitors should help appease customers, who complain of lower speeds in rural and suburban areas. While T-Mobile currently has LTE in many major US cities, a lot of its coverage map is still made up of EDGE and HSPA...

AT&T flips the switch on LTE in dozen new markets

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

The United States wireless carrier AT&T has lit up its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network in twelve new municipalities around the country. The expansion brings AT&T's LTE to an additional 300,000 people, including the 65,000 residents of Bismark, North Dakota.

With this expansion, nearly 280 million people are covered by AT&T's LTE network in more than 500 U.S. markets. More than half of the carrier's postpaid smartphone customers now use a 4G LTE device. The carrier expects its LTE build out to be "essentially complete" by this summer. The full list of AT&T's new LTE coverage follows right after the break...

AT&T launches international LTE roaming in 13 additional countries

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

AT&T, the nation's second-largest wireless carrier, last December started offering international LTE roaming to customers traveling abroad. The deal initially launched in partnership with Canada's Rogers Communications and later expanded to UK's EE.

Today, the company announced an expansion of LTE roaming agreements in partnership with an additional thirteen carriers around the world, including Australia, France, Japan, Spain and Singapore...

AT&T’s LTE available in ten new markets

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 18, 2013

The second-largest United States wireless carrier, AT&T, which claims the title of the nation's fastest fourth-generation LTE network, today flipped the switch on LTE in more places. As of today, AT&T's LTE signal should start appearing on 4G-enabled devices for customers in Twin Falls, Burley, Kauai, Appleton, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Poplar Bluff, Durango and more.

Last month, AT&T lit up LTE in fourteen new markets in its bid to catch up to rival Verizon in terms of nationwide LTE coverage...

AT&T and UK’s EE sign LTE roaming agreement

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 17, 2013

After announcing last week it'd become the first major U.S. wireless carrier to offer international roaming through a new partnership with Canada's Rogers Communications, the nation's second-largest carrier, AT&T, today announced another global LTE agreement, this one with the United Kingdom's top 4G LTE network, Everything Everywhere, or just EE.

The deal makes EE UK's first domestic wireless provider to offer inbound 4G LTE roaming for travellers on international networks visiting the UK. AT&T's customers traveling abroad will be able to hop over to EE's fast 4G LTE network some time in the first half of next year, EE said Tuesday...

Sprint’s LTE network is now live in 300 cities

Cody Lee ∙ December 16, 2013

Good news for Sprint users with LTE-enabled devices today. The carrier announced this morning that it has flipped out the 4G tech for a handful of major new markets including San Diego and St. Louis, and several smaller ones.

Today's rollout pushes Sprint's LTE network into over 300 US cities, covering close to 200 million people—a significant milestone for the company, although it's still well behind its much larger competitors Verizon and AT&T...

Verizon says it’s nearly fixed LTE issues in New York

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 10, 2013

The nation's top wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless, last month admitted its strained network in major cities such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago was underperforming, with many users experiencing their 4G data throughput dropping to slower 3G speeds.

Verizon yesterday blamed the sub-par network quality on “capacity constraints” and argued these data throughput hiccups are now a thing of the past as the carrier has successfully fixed its network in New York City...

AT&T now offers LTE roaming in Canada on Rogers

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 9, 2013

AT&T announced this morning that it has become the first major United States wireless carrier to offer international LTE roaming through a newly-launched LTE roaming partnership in Canada with Rogers Communications. The carrier blankets about 70 percent of Canadians with its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) signal, including major cities like Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

The roaming partnership should appeal to AT&T's users who need to access Roger's LTE network when visiting Canada. Previously, AT&T users worried about giving up 4G speeds when crossing the border.

But as you could probably imagine, roaming deals don't come cheap and that's exactly the case with the AT&T-Rogers partnership as well. I've included more tidbits for you right after the break...

T-Mobile’s 4G LTE goes live in 22 new markets, faster 20+20 LTE network launching in 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

The nation's fourth largest wireless carrier, T-Mobile, has flipped the switch on its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network in twenty new markets across the country while confirming that even faster LTE roll-out is to be expected starting early next year. This new technology uses 20+20 towers on the 20MHz band and is capable of delivering a theoretical download speed of up to 150Mbps, or at least 50 percent higher than the download speeds offered by the current LTE implementation in use today...

Verizon says data-hungry users hamper LTE network quality in big cities

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 23, 2017

When was the last time you heard a major United States wireless carrier admit that its network is facing pressure to meet the needs of its users? That's exactly what Fran Shammo, Verizon's chief financial officer, said in response to reports that its LTE network is folding under pressure in major cities such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

The network strain results in some users in metropolitan areas seeing their data throughput dropping to slower 3G speeds. Verizon blames its deteriorating network quality on "capacity constraints."

The company has promised to allocate more resources toward fixing the network in high-congestion areas so that these slowdowns dissipate by the end of the year...