Verizon’s Testing Says LTE is Faster than 3G

Ok so I skipped the word ‘significantly’, but still the headline seems like a solid candidate for the ‘Well, duh…’ files to me.  But anyway, Verizon Wireless has been field testing 4G LTE in Boston and Seattle, and has been seeing peak speeds of 30-40Mbps down and 15-20Mbps up.  Those are of course welcome numbers, but nothing particularly surprising.  The key of course will not be peak performance, but the speeds you get under load – more specifically when surrounded by smartphone users. Verizon says that ‘real world’ conditions yielded speeds of 5-12Mbps down and 2-5Mbps up.  

These are amazingly realistic numbers – a far cry from the press we often hear about record breaking LTE speeds nearing or exceeding 100Mbps.  Apparently with an actual service being deployed, Verizon is choosing to manage expectations by setting achievable goals.  I suspect that based on media coverage over the past few quarters far too many out there expect LTE will give them 100Mbps connectivity the moment it arrives.  Verizon’s real world tests sound not so different from Clearwire’s current commercial WiMAX speeds.  

Verizon still expects to have LTE service in 25-30 markets covering 100M people by year’s end, at which time we might start seeing some actual LTE phones appear.

If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!

Categories: ILECs, PTTs · Wireless