lte

U.S. Cellular offered additional details on its next-generation LTE network yesterday when a company executive said it would begin testing early next year. According to Steven Campbell, CFO and executive vice president, the regional carrier will select its first trial market in late 2011 with full commercial deployment following in 2012. Campbell made the remarks while speaking at the Wells Fargo Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in New York.

U.S. Cellular has yet to select an LTE equipment vendor, but Fierce Wireless reported that the carrier is open to securing deals with companies like Clearwire and Ligtsquad, particularly … Read more

Earlier this week, T-Mobile USA, the fourth largest cell phone operator in the U.S., launched a marketing campaign calling its newly upgraded network "America's Largest 4G Network."

The claim has ruffled more than a few feathers at T-Mobile competitors, namely Sprint Nextel, which has been helping its partner Clearwire build a nationwide network using a technology called WiMax that it claims is 4G.

Verizon Wireless is also building a "4G" network using a different technology called LTE or Long Term Evolution. It plans to launch this network in 38 markets by the end of the year.… Read more

Welcome to The 411, my column answering all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. I receive plenty of questions about these subjects via e-mail, so I figured many of you might have similar queries, too. At times, I might solicit answers from readers if I'm stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at nicole.lee@cnet.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know in the e-mail.

Question: Now that Sprint's 4G is finally coming to New York City, I was thinking of getting a 4G phone. Are the speeds really that good? Should I get a WiMax phone from Sprint, or will I regret it if LTE becomes the new standard? -- Michael, via e-mail

In general terms, yes, 4G is faster than 3G, at least where Sprint is concerned. Sprint's 4G WiMax can offer speeds of up to 10Mbps down, though real-world speeds average out to around 3Mbps to 6Mbps. This is far faster than Sprint's EV-DO, which tops out at around 3Mbps.

As for whether it's faster than 3G in general, at this point, it's about on par with T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, which is still technically 3G technology. However, WiMax and LTE have the capacity for much faster speeds--up to 40Mbps or more. These are early days for 4G, so we expect speeds to improve as carriers grow their infrastructure. As for whether you should place your bets on WiMax or LTE, you shouldn't fret. Sprint has already mentioned that it has the ability to switch from WiMax to LTE without too many headaches. In our opinion though, it does seem like LTE will be the more globally accepted standard, as both Verizon and AT&T have come out in support of it.… Read more

Engadget obtained a couple of images that show a very sleek-looking LG handset bearing Verizon Wireless branding.

As Engadget reports, there are very few details to share at this point, but looking closely at the touch-only phone, you can discern what appears to be a screen in the range of 4 inches or larger with a high-definition camera on the back. The right side should have a volume rocker and microSD card, and a dedicated camera button should sit on the left side. The striping down the middle of the back side appears to include logos for both DLNA and … Read more

A tech consumer's worst nightmare is buying a hot new device today only to find that it's obsolete or outdated within a few months or a year.

With the quick pace of innovation in wireless technology these days, it's a dilemma that is hard to avoid. This week I break the hard news to a reader that 3G phones of today won't be compatible with the ultra fast 4G networks of tomorrow.

I also try to help a Canadian reader, who travels to the U.S., figure out the best option for buying prepaid voice and … Read more

CHICAGO - Two of the most popular next generation wireless technologies are close to getting their official 4G moniker from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The ITU, which is an agency within the United Nations, is the International standards body that officially designates wireless technologies as 1G, 2G, 3G and now 4G. This week at a meeting in China the group took a step closer to making the technologies LTE or Long Term Evolution and WiMax official 4G standards.

Specifically, the ITU voted that LTE-Advanced technology, meets the criteria it uses to classify the technology as 4G. The ITU also … Read more

CHICAGO--Clearwire is getting near 100Mbps downloads on its LTE-based trial wireless network in Phoenix, a company executive said today.

During a keynote presentation here at the 4G World trade show, Michael Sievert, Clearwire's chief commercial officer, shared initial speed test results on a trial network the company has built in Phoenix to test the next generation of a 4G technology called LTE, or Long Term Evolution. Clearwire announced it was testing LTE network technology in Phoenix in August.

According to Sievert, the company has clocked download speeds at 50 megabits per second using 10MHz channels for up and down … Read more

No, it's not official yet, but after years of rumors and gossip, it appears that a Verizon Wireless iPhone will be a reality early next year. It would be an understatement to say this would be a very big deal--not only to Apple and Verizon, but also to AT&T, which would lose its exclusive hold on Apple's device. We know that CNET readers have a lot of questions about what could happen, so we've prepared this FAQ to lay out what we know and what we don't know, and to give our predictions as to how it will all develop. And please chime in with your own takes in the comments section.

Rumors have been going around about the Verizon iPhone for years. Is it now a sure thing? We sure hope so, if only so we don't have to continue reporting the same rumors over and over again. But truthfully, the reports that the iPhone is heading to Verizon have been gaining momentum, and though the recent reports come from different sources, they are similar in detail. The Wall Street Journal (a frequent outlet of leaks directly from Apple) has been reporting since earlier this year that Apple would start mass-producing a CDMA phone. Many reports named China as the destination of a CDMA device, but on October 6 the newspaper said it would land at Verizon. The source was a person "briefed by Apple."

More recently, in a Fortune profile of Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg came additional confirmation. The report on Friday, October 29 includes direct quotes of discussions between Seidenberg and Steve Jobs about the relationship between Verizon and Apple. Without quoting anyone at Verizon directly, Fortune reports the iPhone coming to the CDMA network early next year is "fait accompli."

There have been other signs, too: AT&T raised its early-termination fees to $325 this spring, perhaps in anticipation of customers leaving it and its unreliable network (in certain areas) for Verizon. Also, the news yesterday that Verizon will sell the iPad (bundled with a 3G hot spot) provides proof that the two companies now have a working business relationship. In contrast, a Wired story earlier this year suggested that there were business and contractual details holding the two up from working together.

And Verizon certainly isn't denying that it will get the iPhone anymore. Though a representative said this spring there were no plans to offer Apple products "any time soon," executives are telling a different story now. Here's what Lowell McAdam, Verizon's president and COO, said to CNET in an interview at the fall CTIA show: "I've been saying for a couple of years now that I feel that Verizon's and Apple's business interests will eventually align."

So when could we see the Verizon iPhone? Reports point to a January introduction of a Verizon iPhone, but it sounds like it would be the same iPhone 4 model currently available from other carriers, except with CDMA chips inside. Though Apple has for the past four years introduced new iPhone products once a year (June or July), its carrier relationships haven't stuck to the same schedule. China Unicom, for instance, began selling the iPhone last September. So it's entirely possible Apple won't wait until June to introduce a Verizon iPhone if it's the current model. Consider also that Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg will give a keynote address at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show on January 6. Though we'd never expect that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would let someone else get the spotlight for an announcement of this magnitude, it's still an interesting data point. … Read more

TechCrunch is reporting that Apple is going to skip adding the latest in mobile technology, 4G (LTE) networks, for its annual iPhone refresh next summer in favor of a GSM/CDMA dual-mode iPhone.

Of course, the big news lately is that Apple is expected to release a CDMA-only iPhone in January of 2011, preempting its normal yearly refresh of the iPhone lineup. Once the Wall Street Journal reported the Verizon-based iPhone as fact (later corroborated by another source in the New York Times), speculation immediately began as to whether the Verizon iPhone would take advantage of Verizon's 4G network.… Read more