Report: Verizon 4G handsets out by mid-2011

A Verizon Wireless executive said its first 4G wireless handset could be available by mid-2011, according to an article in Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

Anthony Melone, chief technology officer at Verizon Wireless, told the newspaper he expects Verizon to be able to offer mobile handsets with 4G capability within three to six months after it launches its commercial 4G network. This is about six months sooner than had previously been expected.

Verizon CEO Dick Lynch

(Credit: Verizon Communications)

At the GSMA's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, Dick Lynch, an executive vice president and CTO for Verizon Communications, said Verizon Wireless is on track to launch its service in 25 to 30 markets throughout the U.S. by the end of 2010. The company, which is using a technology called LTE or long term evolution, is in the final phase, or "Phase 4," of its technology testing. Verizon Wireless is building its new 4G wireless network using spectrum it bought in the 700MHz auction.

The company should be able to start launching commercial deployments within the next couple of months as it finishes testing in cities like Boston and Seattle, Lynch said.

Typically, when a new generation of wireless network is launched, the first devices to use the new network are USB air cards that plug into laptops to provide faster Internet connections. Cell phones and other mobile devices with the new technology embedded usually show up in the market about year later.

But it looks like the development cycle on LTE handset technology is happening faster. Air cards will still be introduced to the market first, but mobile handsets with LTE technology embedded will follow more quickly than they usually do. At Mobile World Congress, Lynch and executives from the European carrier Orange as well as from equipment maker Ericsson, said LTE handsets will be introduced sooner than anyone had anticipated.

Verizon executives say it's still too early to say for sure when the devices will come to market or even which manufacturers will make the phones and which operating systems will be used.

"We have not tested handsets yet," Bill Stone, executive director of network strategy for Verizon Wireless said last month from MWC in an e-mail. "We expect the initial handsets will include CDMA. Not sure yet when they'll start to be available, but as Dick (Lynch) said at the GSMA news event, many of the components to bringing LTE to market are moving along much more quickly than we had initially hoped."

Since it will take some time to cover Verizon Wireless' entire network footprint with the 4G service, initially handsets will have two chips in them. An LTE chip will allow the mobile device to access the new 4G network where it's available, and another chip using CDMA technology will provide access on Verizon's 3G network when 4G service isn't available.

Eventually, suppliers will create an integrated chip that will handle both 3G and 4G technologies.

Another reason the first LTE handsets will need two chipsets is because voice traffic will continue to use the existing CDMA cellular network, while the data traffic will use LTE.

Lynch said during a panel discussion at MWC that getting voice to work over LTE has been particularly challenging. A new standard that Verizon and other companies in the GSM Association support will uses IMS technology to deliver voice services over LTE. Still, more work needs to be done.

Until a solution is complete, Lynch said that Verizon will use its CDMA network to provide voice services. And the LTE network will be used for data. Eventually, when voice over LTE becomes a reality, Verizon will use that technology.

Stone explained that the real challenge is integrating voice services on the new network with existing billing and provisioning systems.

The next generation of wireless networks will boost download and upload speeds, which will make accessing the Web on smartphones much faster. Verizon recently said that download speeds in tests of its LTE network are showing peak data rates of between 40Mbps and 50Mbps. And peak upload speeds are between 20Mbps and 25Mbps.

Average speeds are more likely to be about 5Mbps to 12Mbps for downloads and 2Mbps to 5Mbps for uploads. This is still a huge improvement over average 3G speeds of 400Kbps to 700Kbps.

Clearwire, which has partnered with Sprint Nextel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Google, is already in several markets with its 4G wireless network using technology called WiMax. As of the end of February, when it announced fourth quarter earnings, the company said it operates in 27 markets, providing access to 4G wireless service to potentially 34 million people in cities such as Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Honolulu. This year the company plans to offer service in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, the San Francisco Bay Area, Denver, Minneapolis, and Kansas City.

Sprint, as well as Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which also invested in Clearwire, resell Clearwire's service. So far, none of these companies are selling a mobile phone that can use the Clearwire 4G network. Sprint has said it plans to have a 4G-capable phone this summer.

[nauj_solrac]

Will a 4G iPhone finally be released on Verizon or fat chance?, lol

[Perry_Clease]

Yes

[JeffKAGAN]

2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G whats next? Customers don't care anymore. These labels are for us in the industry more than for customers. These numbers don't mean anything to customers other than they realize 4 is more than 3. However since we are still seeing networks build out their 3G network at the same time they are starting their 4G network customers get dizzy.

Time to re-think the way we label the industry advancements so customers do care. www.jeffkagan.com

[monkeyfun14]

yes because customers understand mbps ratings any better?

[Dan7637]

customers will never care and iphone wont be coming to verizon , it would make them seem pretty hypocritical to launch the device that they were bashing

[korbycon1]

..too bad Verizon had said after the Droid campaign that they would still be completely willing to carry the iphone. As a matter of fact, even before the iphone came out, Verizon was given the offer to be the exclusive carrier. They opted out because the device didn't meet their requirements for a smartphone (ie:no 3G). Now that LTE is beginning to be rolled out, if apple is willing to develop an iphone with a compatible radio, Verizon would have no qualms about adopting the most popular smartphone of the last 3 years, especially considering the massive migration that devoted iphone users would make to the stronger network.

[bigj05]

i just want the iphone i might as well go back to att

[guest18934367]

There are other phones that are just as good, better, or slightly worse that you can get without moving back to AT&T. I would love to have a fancy phone...but for me, quality of service comes first. My top qualification in any phone is the carrier.

[mickeymjay]

You should try the Nexus One if you like the I-Phone so much. Even Leo Laport says he gave up his IPhone for the Nexus One.

[cuken111]

Get a pic iphone 4G better than wait for this
kenenter.com/2010/03/iphone-4g-snapped-in-ultimate-spy-shot.html

[bluemist9999]

If LTE service costs the same as the 3G unlimited data access, it might make a viable alternative to having high speed cable internet in the home.

However, my guess is it will cost a lot more per month, per MB, because it cost Verizon a lot of cash to put LTE in their towers.

But if it's around $60/month for unlimited data, it's a good alternative to having both a high speed home 'net connection and a smartphone plan.

[Crantz05]

$60/month is not bad at all especially now that Verizon is integrating Skype in a lot of their smart phones (although you'll have to subscribe to skype for an amount of fee, am I right?) That means no voice plans on top of data, you can use your phone with wifi globally without the need for GSM (correct me if I'm wrong) and you can also use your phone as a hot spot.

[MrBoomshadow]

Is there a good definition of 4G yet, or is it just another marketing term?

[SixString16]

My only hope is that Verizon won't rape the consumer on the data rates for the 4G network (ha ha, I know). The $30/month is enough and all you should have to pay for unlimited access on a device.

If this LTE network works well enough in some of the big markets, maybe it will help bring down the price of cable/dsl/fios internet service?