@patrickcook, get your facts straight. The G's stand generation. The first G stood for Analog, the second G stood for digital, the third G stands for IP and the 4G stands for streaming Video.
Sprint has been the first to foray into 4G and can earnestly say they have 4G service in approximatley 50 markets and should have 120 million people covered before the year is over. On the other hand, Verizon's mgmt. has indicated they will not have their 4G network up and running until the summer of 2011. ATT won't have theirs until 2012.
Currently Verizon has the most 3G coverage in the nation with Sprint being second. Sprint in fact has twice ATT's 3G coverage and 14 times TMobile's. However, Sprint is the only Telco with 4G.
What most of us are unaware of is Spectrum holdings. Sprint with its affiliate Clearwire have 150 Mhz of Spectrum in the 100 most populated cities in the US, giving them a distinct advantage over their two main rivals that have much less. Remember, Spectrum is a finite resource and allocating more won't be easy. Owing to this Sprint has no Data Caps on Data usage. As demand for data increases, ATT and Verizon are going to have difficulty catering to their consumers, especially when it comes to downloading data efficiently.
Verizon limited Spectrum allocated for their 4G LTE network are expected to have speeds in the range of 5 to 12 Mbs, that is if you believe their management. On the other hand Sprint's affiliate, Clearwire, has indicated their current experiments with 4G LTE in Arizona are manifesting 20 to 70 Mbs average data throughput. The reason for this is Spectrum holdings.
Discussion on:
Message 6 of 1
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
