Comments on: Verizon says LTE now touches 89% of the population

By: Brent Shaffer

Brent Shaffer — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:29:22 +0000

We still have 1G with Verizon. Their claims are BULLSHIT!

By: Kameron

Kameron — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 02:13:58 +0000

Well don’t get to happy of Sprint either. The service is not good and there is no LTE yet in Florida

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:30:10 +0000

You’re full of shit Josh.

By: Conan Kudo (ニール・ゴンパ)

Conan Kudo (ニール・ゴンパ) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:02:02 +0000

Well, I agree with A.J. somewhat. While we should commend Verizon Wireless for pushing the standard so hard, we should also recognize that Verizon’s early deployment has led to interesting issues. To note, Verizon Wireless was the first carrier to really butcher the LTE implementation so that it relied heavily on CDMA authentication to access the LTE network.

Most carriers (even GSM ones) use a separate provisioning system for LTE because it ensured stability and allowed independence from the legacy system. Verizon Wireless (and I believe Sprint as well) bridged the legacy subscriber and network authentication systems, which has led to issues and has made it difficult to release LTE-only devices.

That said, I’m pretty sure that the series of network failures in 2011 and early 2012 forced Verizon to rejigger its network to split it, which is why we have devices like the Samsung Galaxy Camera (which don’t have any CDMA support at all).

In any case, Verizon Wireless has done a great job deploying LTE nationally, and should be commended for it. But now it has a harder task: go back and upgrade to 3GPP Release 10 and add AWS radios to the LTE network so that the spectrum it paid dearly for does not go to waste (which would get them in a lot of trouble with the FCC).

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 23:46:11 +0000

I don’t know, AJ, I see your points, but I think you miss the bigger historical picture. It’s much easier to deploy a network once the technology matures. For all of its faults, Verizon was a pioneer in LTE. It drove the rest of the operators to deploy LTE, and it, along with a handful of other global carriers, was the guinea pig for large-scale LTE deployments. In spite of that it charged ahead with its deployment and didn’t languish over a few trial markets like so many other new technology rollouts. Maybe Sprint’s network will be better, maybe its deployment timeline will be faster, but it doesn’t change the fact it didn’t begin a full 18 months until after Verizon.

We usually agree on most things, but in this case I really think Tony Melone needs to be commended for what he accomplished.

By: Josh Goldberg

Josh Goldberg — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:51:38 +0000

Here in silicon valley half the time there’s no LTE signal. At my house in a neighborhood of several hundred homes there is no signal at all. Their stats are false and misleading.

By: Andrew J Shepherd

Andrew J Shepherd — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:26:46 +0000

So, VZW is taking 2.5 years to deploy Release 8 LTE without remote radios and not at full site density. Should we be so celebratory of VZW, Kevin? I think that Sprint’s deployment plans and timeline are more “impressive,” maybe T-Mobile’s, too.