4G

Sprint names a hundred cities getting 4G LTE in “coming months”

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 10, 2012

Sprint two weeks ago added four more United States cities to its 4G LTE network deployment efforts and today the company announced that it will deploy the speedy network technology across a hundred major cities in "coming months", including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Sprint is late to the LTE party, having commenced the high-speed network deployment on July 15. Contrast this to AT&T and Verizon, the nation's leading carriers, that began upgrading their towers to 4G LTE last summer and are expected to wrap up commercial deployment of their nationwide 4G LTE by the end of 2012 or in early 2013...

Korea launches probe into Samsung over wireless patents abuse

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 6, 2012

Samsung is under fire in its home turf of South Korea over an alleged abuse of its wireless patents, Reuters reported today. The Korea Fair Trade Commission confirmed that the country's watchdog has launched an investigation based on Apple's antitrust complaints against Samsung which alleges that the Galaxy maker is abusing its patents to gain an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

Of course, Apple won a landmark victory in a high-stake U.S. trial last month that found Samsung guilty of breaching Apple's design and utility patents. The jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages and ruled that the iPhone maker had not violated any of Samsung's patents.

Samsung later promised to sue Apple immediately if the next iPhone is released with support for fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology...

AT&T expands 4G LTE network ahead of new iPhone launch

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

With just days before Apple is expected to unveil its new iPhone, AT&T Thursday announced its 4G LTE network is expanding into nine new US markets. The carrier also said it expects to add 43 more markets for the high-speed network by the end of 2012.

Although Apple's not talking ahead of the Sept. 12 media event, observers expect the Cupertino, Calif. company to introduce a new iPhone that supports the faster LTE networks. The new iPhone would join the latest iPad as two iOS devices compatible with LTE.

T-Mobile launches unlimited “4G” data plan

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

T-Mobile USA, the nation's fourth-largest wireless company and the sole major U.S. carrier without the iPhone, today announced new unlimited "4G" data plan, as promised last month. The new plan will set you back $20 a month if you're on T-Mobile's Value plan or $30 a month for those on the Classic voice and text plan.

The new plans do away with speed limits or bandwidth throttling, the carrier said. Though T-Mobile continues with its dubious practice of advertising its network and these new plans under the "4G" moniker, in the carrier's terminology this really means iPhone-compatible high-speed 3G HSPA+ as T-Mobile is way overdue with 4G LTE deployment...

Sprint expands LTE into four more US cities

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Sprint has added four more US cities to its 4G LTE network. Baltimore, Gainsville, Ga., Manhattan/Junction City, Kan., and Sedalia, Mo. were added to the high-speed network the carrier launched on July 15. Baltimore residents gain not only LTE, but an upgrade to 3G, Sprint announced.

"As consumers all over the country are becoming more dependent on their smartphones, network quality is becoming more important," according to a statement. Sprint's LTE network began by introducing LTE in 15 cities. The carrier hopes to complete its LTE build-out by the end of 2013.

Study shows nearly 50% of US consumers don’t care about LTE

Cody Lee ∙ August 22, 2012

Even though we haven't seen much evidence, the tech world seems pretty convinced that the new iPhone will be LTE-capable. After all, Apple's latest tablet supports the 4G tech. And Android devices have for years.

But as it turns out, folks may not end up caring that much about whether the new iPhone supports LTE or not. A new report is out this morning, claiming that nearly 50% of US consumers don't feel that they need it...

UK carrier authorized to offer first LTE service ahead of iPhone launch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

This is pretty interesting: Ofcom, the regulator for UK communications, announced today that it has given permission to the carrier Everything Everywhere to begin using its existing 1800 MHz to offer LTE services beginning on September 11.

If that date sounds familiar, that's because it's the day before the all-but-confirmed media event where Apple is said to be unveiling it's next smartphone. The handset is widely expected to be LTE-capable, but will it work outside of the US?

Poll: is the next iPhone going to be world-phone LTE compatible?

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2012

Less than four weeks from Apple's September 12 iPhone 5 event, U.S. carriers continue aggressive deployment of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, making it all too easy to get carried away with the wonders of high-speed 4G networking on the next iPhone.

After all, 4G is thought to be one of the headline features of the device. On the other hand, this is going to be the first iPhone ever to have 4G, meaning some limitations and teething problems are likely to be expected, as is always the case with first-gen everything from Apple.

Regular users will probably assume that just because the next iPhone is 4G LTE, it's gonna work on whatever carrier's fourth-generation LTE network. That may not be the case and if the third-generation iPad is an indication, the iPhone 5 could disappoint some international users with limited support for LTE frequency bands.

That being said, we're asking you to take a long and hard look at the current state of technology and vote on the kind of LTE support you think the iPhone 5 will have...

Verizon’s LTE network will soon cover 2/3 of US population

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2012

Verizon just announced that it's going to flip the LTE switch on in 34 new markets tomorrow, and will also be expanding its 4G coverage in another 38.

We'll get to the new markets in a moment, but perhaps more interesting is the milestone. After tomorrow's rollout, Verizon's LTE network will be in more than 370 markets, blanketing close to two-thirds of the the country's population...

The big question looms: does iPhone 5 have world support for numerous LTE bands?

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2012

iDB first discovered traces of high-speed fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) cellular networking in iOS 5.1 code. Since then, multiple code hooks, hardware hints and credible sources have all but confirmed the industry's worst kept secret, that the next iPhone is widely expected to work over 4G LTE networks.

But is it going to be a worldphone in respect to 4G? What if it doesn't support a variety of LTE frequencies in use today? A new report from South Korea alleges that local telcos have been attempting to talk Apple into supporting the 1.8-gigahertz LTE frequency used in the country. This implies that the iPhone 5 may not support the numerous 4G frequencies in use across the world...

AT&T launches LTE in four new markets, expands in several others

Cody Lee ∙ July 27, 2012

Great news for those of you with AT&T-branded LTE iPads. The carrier has just announced new markets and expansions for its long term evolution network.

Folks in south Florida, parts of Maryland and Massachusetts will now be able to browse the web at lightning-fast 4G speeds. Keep reading for the full list of new areas...

Verizon lights up 4G LTE in 33 new markets

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 18, 2012

Boy, does Verizon Wireless know how to spoil AT&T's unveiling of shared data plans from this morning. The Big Red carrier made a point by saying it now has more high-speed Long Term Evolution (LTE) coverage in the U.S. than all of its rivals combined.

In addition, the company announced today it's flipping the switch on 4G LTE in 33 new markets. Verizon's LTE is now in a total of 337 markets and the carrier is on track to cover more than 400 markets by the year's end. Plus, it is broadening the coverage in the existing 32 markets which already have its 4G LTE...