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AT&T vs. Verizon 4G LTE Market Comparison, April 2012
- Thread starter b24pgg
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I don't foresee AT&T catching up to VZW any time soon. VZW already reaches 2/3 of the population and is launching 4G in markets with populations of less than 10,000 people. By the time AT&T gets to that stage, VZW will likely already be deploying LTE Advanced.
Its ironic the media is saying Verizon has 2/3 of the population instead of what matter most to people in rural areas. Population vs Land size are totally seperate measures.
AT&T tried to say it covered 97% of the population with voice and data and Verizon mocks it.
It's all a matter of perspective. We need competition in the USA or else we just have two carriers splitting up the customers for themselves.
By the way. AT&T has I think 75 million of the population as of Feb 2012. I live in orlando so have both Verizon and AT&T LTE device. But look at the map. AT&T hasn't Launched in the real South Florida yet.
It's just in the testing phases in Miami. You add Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Palm Beach to the population any time now. That adds another 10 million to AT&T's LTE count of 75 million.
So AT&T has gone from zero LTE in September 2011 to 75 million in 6 months.
Verizon has gone from zero in Jan 2011 to 200 million in 15 months.
So Verizon has a huge head start. But AT&T can catch up in population rather quickly by adding larger cities.
What's more important is how they cover the middle country in the boonies. I really do not know how Verizon can claim they can cover their entire 3G footprint with LTE by end of 2013. I was just in South Florida and couldn't get LTE signals with my Verizon iPad in many stretches of Broward county and there are patches in orlando where i flip in and out of LTE.
AT&T tried to say it covered 97% of the population with voice and data and Verizon mocks it.
It's all a matter of perspective. We need competition in the USA or else we just have two carriers splitting up the customers for themselves.
By the way. AT&T has I think 75 million of the population as of Feb 2012. I live in orlando so have both Verizon and AT&T LTE device. But look at the map. AT&T hasn't Launched in the real South Florida yet.
It's just in the testing phases in Miami. You add Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Palm Beach to the population any time now. That adds another 10 million to AT&T's LTE count of 75 million.
So AT&T has gone from zero LTE in September 2011 to 75 million in 6 months.
Verizon has gone from zero in Jan 2011 to 200 million in 15 months.
So Verizon has a huge head start. But AT&T can catch up in population rather quickly by adding larger cities.
What's more important is how they cover the middle country in the boonies. I really do not know how Verizon can claim they can cover their entire 3G footprint with LTE by end of 2013. I was just in South Florida and couldn't get LTE signals with my Verizon iPad in many stretches of Broward county and there are patches in orlando where i flip in and out of LTE.
It's not called an aggressive rollout for nothing.
By the way, it's not the first time VzW has made a similar pledge. Just a few years ago, they said they would expand EVDO coverage to match their 1X coverage, and they did. It was a massive buildout.
In preparation for the iPhone 4s launch, VzW doubled or tripled EVDO capacity in their entire footprint. That was also a massive buildout which they accomplished without too many hitches.
I have no doubt that they'll pull this off too.
Because of this, I'm most likely going with verizon if the next iphone has LTE. Especially after my experience of an ATT ipad LTE, it was not as fast in my areas and despite the coverage map showing we had it sometimes it wasn't even on LTE.
As long as AT&T gets it to my city before the next iPhone is launched I'm good. My work phone is LTE(Nokia Lumia 900) and I get about the same speed as my iPhone 4. Haven't used it in Atlanta yet which is LTE but I'm in no rush. I want it to be done right unlike when 3G was rolled out.
AT&T will probably hit 150 million of the population by end of the year with LTE. I suspect Verizon will be around 250-275 million.
USA has around 300 million citizens. Maybe 10-20 million more if u factor in illegals. Ha.
But I think Verizon has much more spectrum than AT&T. So AT&T may end up being stuck around the 250 million mark well into 2014 while Verizon has plenty of spectrum they may get the country covered by end of 2013. Again. I am skeptical since I still have huge gaps of LTE all over Florida when I travel.
USA has around 300 million citizens. Maybe 10-20 million more if u factor in illegals. Ha.
But I think Verizon has much more spectrum than AT&T. So AT&T may end up being stuck around the 250 million mark well into 2014 while Verizon has plenty of spectrum they may get the country covered by end of 2013. Again. I am skeptical since I still have huge gaps of LTE all over Florida when I travel.
The real choice is LTE Bandwidth
I understand users have practical choices they are going to make right now ... e.g. AT&T doesn't work in my area or Verizon is still using CDMA and can't switch between voice and data but in the mid/longer term it will be which carrier has invested in the bandwidth AND infrastructure. Verizon has more LTE locations and owns the 20 Mhz bandwidth. AT&T has fewer locations for LTE and but has only set up with 10Mhz. As it adds locations and customers AT&T is going to suffer (relatively). I am with AT&T and not sure if I am switching yet.
I won't take any credit here or try to convince anyone. Check out this tech article from someone knowledgeable.
http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/110711-what-is-lte
I understand users have practical choices they are going to make right now ... e.g. AT&T doesn't work in my area or Verizon is still using CDMA and can't switch between voice and data but in the mid/longer term it will be which carrier has invested in the bandwidth AND infrastructure. Verizon has more LTE locations and owns the 20 Mhz bandwidth. AT&T has fewer locations for LTE and but has only set up with 10Mhz. As it adds locations and customers AT&T is going to suffer (relatively). I am with AT&T and not sure if I am switching yet.
I won't take any credit here or try to convince anyone. Check out this tech article from someone knowledgeable.
http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/110711-what-is-lte
Luckily Im in an area with both red and blue dots
So I'll be good with LTE and currently enjoying fast HSPA+ speeds with AT&T.
I dont travel throughout the US on the regural. Just for vacation here and there think I can manage fine for a week or so.
I wonder if the people that look at maps and see a bunch of colors really travel through every city on the regural for a job or other reason. Cause besides that if you spend 98% of your time in your home area why would it matter if AT&T or Verizon has great coverage or LTE in Denver or Washington, LA or other places for example?
Its all a marketing gimmick, that's all.
So I'll be good with LTE and currently enjoying fast HSPA+ speeds with AT&T.
I dont travel throughout the US on the regural. Just for vacation here and there think I can manage fine for a week or so.
I wonder if the people that look at maps and see a bunch of colors really travel through every city on the regural for a job or other reason. Cause besides that if you spend 98% of your time in your home area why would it matter if AT&T or Verizon has great coverage or LTE in Denver or Washington, LA or other places for example?
Its all a marketing gimmick, that's all.
o
And AT&T 3G sucks there (at least in my experience last year).
Luckily Im in an area with both red and blue dots
So I'll be good with LTE and currently enjoying fast HSPA+ speeds with AT&T.
I dont travel throughout the US on the regural. Just for vacation here and there think I can manage fine for a week or so.
I wonder if the people that look at maps and see a bunch of colors really travel through every city on the regural for a job or other reason. Cause besides that if you spend 98% of your time in your home area why would it matter if AT&T or Verizon has great coverage or LTE in Denver or Washington, LA or other places for example?
Its all a marketing gimmick, that's all.
Ditto
And I'm finally living in a new Apt that gets decent speeds on AT&T 3G. Too bad my new office SUCKS DONKEY #####. 
Ditto
That sucks.
What speeds you get at the office? They dont have wifi available?
The internet connection on the WiFi is pretty locked down...they use a proxy....kills a couple of my apps. Decided pretty quickly it wasn't worth it.
The data connection is so slow that it kills my battery by the end of the work day. Luckily I picked up a 2A car charger (for the iPad) that charges the iPhone pretty quickly on the way home from work.
Yes, I noticed my ipad charger charges the iphone very fast.
Picked up a few extra sets and a car charger from ebay for cheap.
Good idea.