Verizon Touts LTE Advanced Rollout With 50% Faster Peak Speeds in Over 450 Cities

[CarlJ]

I talk and surf all the time.... LTE is GSM... Verizon supports VOLTE.... Internet search is your friend

Oh it's even more fun than that. When GSM carriers went to 3G, they actually went to an air-interface called WCDMA (part of UMTS) - deployed in the US by AT&T and T-Mobile. There used to be giant flamewars over whether GSM or CDMA was the better technology. A few people are still carrying that old torch (like the OP). But the GSM snobs lost that war, and most of them don't even know it. Their beloved GSM carriers quietly switched them over to WCDMA technology for their precious 3G signals. Now, with LTE, everyone's playing with the same set of toys, with CDMA technology at the base of it.

And yeah, simultaneous talk and data work just fine on Verizon on my nearly two year old iPhone 6.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Some of these comments are bringing back memories about "you can't talk and surf at the same time"

But for me... I rarely "talk" on my phone anymore. And if I do... I'm driving hands-free or at home on WIFI.

It's never really been an issue for me. I remember one time I was on the phone in the car and I also had Google Maps going too. But it wasn't that big a deal.

I guess times have changed.

But I'm glad they fixed it.

 

[CarlJ]

AND WE'RE GOING TO WRITE IT ALL OVER THE BACK OF YOUR PHONE!

VERIZON 4GLTE XLTE LTE-A+++++!

Not on the iPhone they're not.

 

[tjleonard]

Ra

VZ is such a joke! Where is VZ superior to At&t?? I've tested in NYC, ATL, Charlotte, Orlando, VA, etc and never has VZ come anywhere close to the DL speeds that At&t has........and you still can't surf & talk! #cdmablows!!

https://www.wirelessweek.com/news/2016/02/t-announces-5g-field-trials-austin

Raleigh and most of NC, as well as FL. Not really sure where you tested in Charlotte, but that's not the norm. I've gotten 50+mb down for the last 6 years, ATT usually gets about 1/2.

 

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

Been able to do that for a long time.
[doublepost=1472509460][/doublepost]
Meanwhile Verizon users had and have coverage in plenty places (including many indoor locations) where T-Mobile hadn't for a long time and in some case still doesn't. So what?

Not really sure what you're referring to there. I live in a semi-rural area of Ohio with only 1900 MHz and in-building penetration is on par with Verizon.

Tired jab at T-Mobile is tired.

 

[KPOM]

The 9.7" iPad Pro also supports LTE/Advanced. Will Verizon support it on those devices?
[doublepost=1472513656][/doublepost]

Right -- XLTE was just a marketing term for band 4 LTE, whereas LTE-A is just B13+B4 / B13+B2 / etc. CA, no?

Except carrier aggregation brings faster theoretical speeds, not just more capacity.

 

[C DM]

Not really sure what you're referring to there. I live in a semi-rural area of Ohio with only 1900 MHz and in-building penetration is on par with Verizon.

Tired jab at T-Mobile is tired.

Tired indeed.

 

[vigilant]

Tired indeed.

We can call it tired, but these are still all regional observations. A tower that has a strong signal but horrible backhaul is still going to be slow. Weak signal that no one is hitting that has more then enough backhaul would rule.

Pick a carrier that works well for you and your lifestyle. If you're in a T-Mobile rich area, and don't travel much then perfect!

More funny to me then anything else is no one is really bragging about how great Sprint is.

Wanna know what I absolutely love about T-Mobile? They've done a great job of going from the scrappy underdog place to stimulating changes across the industry. They've grown leaps and bounds after the failed AT&T buy out. To a certain degree they've capitalized on their merger with MetroPCS. They've made the right moves. The result? AT&T and Verizon have both been more aggressive with their pricing models. Prices per gb on major carriers is going down. Rollover data exists across the line. Verizon is giving between 2-6GB of bonus data per line on top of their existing package. I completely expect for AT&T and Verizon to either further reduce their prices next year or do the partnered free streaming.

Capitalism works. That's far more worth celebrating then arguing whether LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) is marketing or not.

 

[2298754]

Verizon is taking a page out of T-Mobile's sleazy marketing handbook. Hyping up minuscule network upgrades.

They've had LTE-A up for months now. We've been seeing reports of B2/13/4 2xCA in NYC for a few months now.

AT&T has had CA since 2014. T-Mobile has had it for a long time too.

Nothing to see here folks...
[doublepost=1472521548][/doublepost]

Two random speed test with Verizon LTE-A. Downtown LA area.

View attachment 647364 View attachment 647365

And this is exactly why I don't think this announcement was a good idea. Now everyone will be claiming their speeds are from "LTE-A."

109 mbps is well within the specifications of a 20x20 B4 "XLTE" carrier. It's probably not even LTE-A at all.
[doublepost=1472521690][/doublepost]

So the 6S will work on LTE Advanced?

Even the iPhone 6 works with LTE-A.

Remember that LTE-A is a combination of various network technologies, such as VoLTE/VoWiFi/CA, etc. The iPhone 6 from two years ago still supports CA/VoLTE/VoWiFi, but won't get the max peak download speeds the the 6S and upcoming 7 will get.
[doublepost=1472521797][/doublepost]

VZ is such a joke! Where is VZ superior to At&t?? I've tested in NYC, ATL, Charlotte, Orlando, VA, etc and never has VZ come anywhere close to the DL speeds that At&t has........and you still can't surf & talk! #cdmablows!!

What? Do you live under a rock?

Verizon has had plenty of SVDO compatible devices over the years. VoLTE has been up since the iPhone6 launch back in 2014. Surf-n-talk has been available for all Android/iOS phones since 2014 or so.

 

[vigilant]

Verizon is taking a page out of T-Mobile's sleazy marketing handbook. Hyping up minuscule network upgrades.

They've had LTE-A up for months now. We've been seeing reports of B2/13/4 2xCA in NYC for a few months now.

AT&T has had CA since 2014. T-Mobile has had it for a long time too.

Nothing to see here folks...

I'd be curious to see who has LTE-A up in the most places. The other thing I'm curious about is who throttles to target speed testing sites.

These aren't technology marvels. They're standards that were agreed upon years ago by a committee and then everyone had to put it into a chipset to support. The fact that Verizon 39 devices that support it today including the iPhone 6 shows how established this is as a tech stack.

It would be interesting to standup a box and run a speed test from an address no one expects and run it for an hour. I'd love to see how fast the sustained speed is for that long.

To be completely honest for a single device I don't know if there's much use for speed above 15. If you're on T-Mobile the speed to run Netflix at 480p is far lower then that.
[doublepost=1472521980][/doublepost]

Verizon is taking a page out of T-Mobile's sleazy marketing handbook. Hyping up minuscule network upgrades.

They've had LTE-A up for months now. We've been seeing reports of B2/13/4 2xCA in NYC for a few months now.

AT&T has had CA since 2014. T-Mobile has had it for a long time too.

Nothing to see here folks...
[doublepost=1472521548][/doublepost]

And this is exactly why I don't think this announcement was a good idea. Now everyone will be claiming their speeds are from "LTE-A."

109 mbps is well within the specifications of a 20x20 B4 "XLTE" carrier. It's probably not even LTE-A at all.
[doublepost=1472521690][/doublepost]

Even the iPhone 6 works with LTE-A.

Remember that LTE-A is a combination of various network technologies, such as VoLTE/VoWiFi/CA, etc. The iPhone 6 from two years ago still supports CA/VoLTE/VoWiFi, but won't get the max peak download speeds the the 6S and upcoming 7 will get.
[doublepost=1472521797][/doublepost]

What? Do you live under a rock?

Verizon has had plenty of SVDO compatible devices over the years. VoLTE has been up since the iPhone6 launch back in 2014. Surf-n-talk has been available for all Android/iOS phones since 2014 or so.

Looks like we're on the same page.

The idea of a carrier being magically superior then the other is funny. The standard has to be burned into a chip based on a standard long before a carrier will declare it.

 

[2298754]

I'd be curious to see who has LTE-A up in the most places.

Probably Verizon and/or AT&T.

I've had CA on AT&T since around 2014 in my area.

The other thing I'm curious about is who throttles to target speed testing sites.

Definitely T-Mobile, since they zero-rate speed testing data, unlike Verizon or AT&T. They also have servers in Boston and NYC on the SpeedTest.net app that boost their averages.
[doublepost=1472522176][/doublepost]

Looks like we're on the same page.

The idea of a carrier being magically superior then the other is funny. The standard has to be burned into a chip based on a standard long before a carrier will declare it.

Yeah, there was no reason for this announcement... at all. It's just a waste of time.

 

[vigilant]

Probably Verizon and/or AT&T. AT&T has had CA up and running since around 2014 in certain parts of the US.



Definitely T-Mobile, since they zero-rate speed testing data, unlike Verizon or AT&T. They also have servers in Boston and NYC on the SpeedTest.net app that boost their averages.

That's precisely my point.

Much like PC benchmarks some carriers are optimizing for speed tests.

It isn't a bad thing. It's important to remember that we are arguing about speed tests on devices intended for single use devices. Certain carriers are giving privileged access to certain sites that they "bless". That isn't a real world result.

 

[BP9906]

If only Verizon actually had any decent coverage in Austin. For a booming tech town, Verizon is behind the ball.

 

[vigilant]

If only Verizon actually had any decent coverage in Austin. For a booming tech town, Verizon is behind the ball.

I'm curious who do you use?

 

[2298754]

If only Verizon actually had any decent coverage in Austin. For a booming tech town, Verizon is behind the ball.

Looks like their coverage is on par with AT&T and T-Mobile in Austin...

http://rootmetrics.com/en-US/rootscore/map/metro/austin-tx/2016/1H

 

[BigMcGuire]

... I was so sick that I was always held back by some sort of red tape by Verizon or the need to have to try and hock $200 worth of accessories with every phone to make some kind of money and keep my job.

This is the only thing that has made me come super close to leaving Verizon. My wife and I went into a Verizon store and both wanted to upgrade our phones (we had upgrades available). After saying no to accessories 5+ times I was personally insulted. After a final time, the rep slammed down her tablet and walked away saying she didn't know if she could give me a new phone. I complained to the in-store manager and was laughed at to my face (which continued as we walked out). Complaints on Yelp? resulted in the regional manager apologizing profusely (making the in store rep text us and apologize).

I've been a loyal Verizon Wireless customer for many ... many... many years with a family plan of 5 lines. But we went to another store, 10 miles away, where the rep was so frigging nice, so friendly, took only one no to accessories (because of this I bought an $80 SD card from him), that we stayed with Verizon.

Now I'm smart enough to upgrade/deal with Apple stores only. But holey **** .... do they push accessories like crazy. My advice to everyone I know is to go to Apple and they all tell me how much more of a pleasant experience it is.

Sorry for the long post but. This struck a nerve. Even though it was years ago, I still want to leave Verizon for it.


Re thread? I'm happy with Verizon speeds. 99.9% of what I do is on FIOS WiFi anyway. Cool. I wonder how long till my small town in CA will get it.

 

[vigilant]

This is the only thing that has made me come super close to leaving Verizon. My wife and I went into a Verizon store and both wanted to upgrade our phones (we had upgrades available). After saying no to accessories 5+ times I was personally insulted. After a final time, the rep slammed down her tablet and walked away saying she didn't know if she could give me a new phone. I complained to the in-store manager and was laughed at to my face (which continued as we walked out). Complaints on Yelp? resulted in the regional manager apologizing profusely (making the in store rep text us and apologize).

I've been a loyal Verizon Wireless customer for many ... many... many years with a family plan of 5 lines. But we went to another store, 10 miles away, where the rep was so frigging nice, so friendly, took only one no to accessories (because of this I bought an $80 SD card from him), that we stayed with Verizon.

Now I'm smart enough to upgrade/deal with Apple stores only. But holey **** .... do they push accessories like crazy. My advice to everyone I know is to go to Apple and they all tell me how much more of a pleasant experience it is.

Sorry for the long post but. This struck a nerve. Even though it was years ago, I still want to leave Verizon for it.


Re thread? I'm happy with Verizon speeds. 99.9% of what I do is on FIOS WiFi anyway. Cool. I wonder how long till my small town in CA will get it.

Again I must say regional issues. I can drive to a Verizon store and try to do something like turn in a device for Edge 15 minutes away from my house and people look at me like I'm asking them if I can put a fertilized alien egg in their throat to gestate. I can go 5 minutes away, and everyone is nice. When I was with AT&T I couldn't get ANYTHING done in a store without buying something. T-Mobile I was charged $60 to get a new sim card for a replacement phone. I reported the issue and was given a $30 credit for the inconvenience.

I don't want to be overtly negative... but carrier retail people, and ALL Best Buy employees will give you the most miserable experience. They'll smile at you as they ask you to eat excrement to prove their value for a day. I've been the next person up at Frys with an HDMI cable, and a Snickers bar... was pulled out of line by someone I asked where the HDMI cables are so they can print out a ticket because according to them "you can't go through the line without a ticket".

Retail carrier experience with most stores isn't an indication of the actual service you'll get day to day. Hardcore retail stores like Frys or Best Buy, those people will tell you anything to close a sale even if they aren't on commission.

 

[C DM]

We can call it tired, but these are still all regional observations. A tower that has a strong signal but horrible backhaul is still going to be slow. Weak signal that no one is hitting that has more then enough backhaul would rule.

Pick a carrier that works well for you and your lifestyle. If you're in a T-Mobile rich area, and don't travel much then perfect!

More funny to me then anything else is no one is really bragging about how great Sprint is.

Wanna know what I absolutely love about T-Mobile? They've done a great job of going from the scrappy underdog place to stimulating changes across the industry. They've grown leaps and bounds after the failed AT&T buy out. To a certain degree they've capitalized on their merger with MetroPCS. They've made the right moves. The result? AT&T and Verizon have both been more aggressive with their pricing models. Prices per gb on major carriers is going down. Rollover data exists across the line. Verizon is giving between 2-6GB of bonus data per line on top of their existing package. I completely expect for AT&T and Verizon to either further reduce their prices next year or do the partnered free streaming.

Capitalism works. That's far more worth celebrating then arguing whether LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) is marketing or not.

Indeed. Essentially the kind of thing I was getting at.

 

[Silver Idaten]

This is the only thing that has made me come super close to leaving Verizon. My wife and I went into a Verizon store and both wanted to upgrade our phones (we had upgrades available). After saying no to accessories 5+ times I was personally insulted. After a final time, the rep slammed down her tablet and walked away saying she didn't know if she could give me a new phone. I complained to the in-store manager and was laughed at to my face (which continued as we walked out). Complaints on Yelp? resulted in the regional manager apologizing profusely (making the in store rep text us and apologize).

I've been a loyal Verizon Wireless customer for many ... many... many years with a family plan of 5 lines. But we went to another store, 10 miles away, where the rep was so frigging nice, so friendly, took only one no to accessories (because of this I bought an $80 SD card from him), that we stayed with Verizon.

Now I'm smart enough to upgrade/deal with Apple stores only. But holey **** .... do they push accessories like crazy. My advice to everyone I know is to go to Apple and they all tell me how much more of a pleasant experience it is.

Sorry for the long post but. This struck a nerve. Even though it was years ago, I still want to leave Verizon for it.


Re thread? I'm happy with Verizon speeds. 99.9% of what I do is on FIOS WiFi anyway. Cool. I wonder how long till my small town in CA will get it.

There were times I got angry too that I couldn't sell accessories, but I didn't show it in front of customers. I needed money to pay my debts, so yes the commission was nice, but every week I always had to hear that I wasn't making my target numbers and I needed to sell more bundles, it got to a point where my job was on the line. After awhile I just couldn't do it anymore.

I've also left Verizon as a customer, and I will never recommend them for any reason again at least in their current form.

 

[BigMcGuire]

and I needed to sell more bundles, it got to a point where my job was on the line. After awhile I just couldn't do it anymore.

As a Verizon customer this makes me really angry and sad. When I leave, I'll make it a point to say this is why I left.

 

[acuriouslad]

I'm just going to leave this here
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/1760188555

Even though latency from Perth to the rest of the world is crazy, at least I feel the incredible price I pay is somewhat acceptable for the performance I get in the CBD. Drops to a third of this in most residential suburbs.

 

[B4U]

But is OBEX profile still locked out from their phones after all these years?
I left them 11 years ago because of this.

 

[Nicky G]

So basically they just refined and optimized how the network works. Is that right? And they're marketing it as something new.

LTO Advanced is actually what used to be referred to as the first "true" 4th generation cellular technology (until they rebranded and began calling the previous two generations "4th Gen" which was really always BS).

LTE Advanced is good stuff, and 5th Gen is also going to be pretty crazy.

It's easy to be cynical and say every upgrade is just marketing speak, but when you look at what's happened with wireless over the past decade, it's literally changed the world. Give it another 10 years, and things are going to be downright nutty.

 

[adeedew]

VZ is such a joke! Where is VZ superior to At&t?? I've tested in NYC, ATL, Charlotte, Orlando, VA, etc and never has VZ come anywhere close to the DL speeds that At&t has........and you still can't surf & talk! #cdmablows!!

WRONG since the iPhone 6 you turn on voice and data and surf & talk. Welcome to 2014. But Verizon is quickly becoming a joke they need to bring back unlimited or throttle to a 4g fallback

 

[Nicky G]

How about making a more affordable cell phone service instead? We're half way through 2016, and cell phone services are still ridiculously overpriced. Increase in speed is nice, but what good is that if you have to pay an arm and two legs for it?

$2-$3 per day for everything a smartphone allows you to do is "pay an arm and two legs?" Are you freaking kidding me? That's a hair more than a bottle of soda. Give me a break. *eye-roll*
[doublepost=1472531186][/doublepost]

I don't get why people think that faster speeds mean you'll use more data. You only use as much data as your device needs to perform a task. Watching a video at 100MB/s or 10MB/s isn't going to use a different amount of data. Downloading files or such will happen FASTER, but won't use more data. The files are a fixed size!

Put a water pipe 4x larger up to your house. Will your water bill go up or will you use the same amount of water? Dozens of analogies.

Data is data. How fast it comes to you doesn't affect how much you use.

THANK YOU for pointing this out, I never understand why people act like faster data is a bad thing. WTF?!?! Lotta armchair experts on the interwebs. Of course I assume most of them are 12-18 years old, otherwise known as idiot kids who think they know everything. ;-)