Verizon Wireless is done with the technical phases of its long-term evolution trials and is moving on to friendly user trials, announcing the shift on its 4G developer’s call last week. ZDNet reported that VZW executive director of public affairs David Clevenger said select users would be taking the network for a spin in five cities in the coming months, as Verizon prepares for its large-scale LTE rollout in the fourth quarter. Its plan is to have 25-30 large markets covering about 100 million pops blanketed with the 4G technology by year’s end.
Who those friendly users might be remains to be seen, and Verizon isn’t giving too much away. ZDNet quoted a VZW spokeswoman as saying, “Verizon Wireless is tapping select users in select cities for the friendly user trials but is not disclosing details about these users.” Most likely they’ll be VZW employees and VZW’s LTE vendors — all of whom can be trusted to keep any details under their hats. But who knows? Maybe a few dedicated and loyal VZW customers might be included in the list — under an NDA, of course.
Connected Planet’s take,
Kevin Fitchard:
Where do I sign up? Having tested WiMax in Chicago, Las Vegas and Baltimore, I’m extremely curious to see how the new LTE network stands up (hint, hint to any VZW press relations types who might be reading this). I’m pretty sure that at least a few of those five cities will be in current Clearwire markets. One of VZW’s initial test markets is Seattle, so that’s a given, but VZW is likely collecting as much ammunition as possible before it launches its 4G marketing blitz later this year and next.
It’s already reporting that its LTE networks is seeing average download speeds between 5 Mb/s to 12 Mb/s, compared to Clearwire’s claims of 3 Mb/s to 6 Mb/s. Verizon will most surely go to market claiming it has the fastest network on the airwaves and will probably supply its own and independent data to back it up.
That said, I don’t think VZW will choose to focus solely on targeting Clearwire on its own turf. Verizon likely sees the opportunity in being the first 4G player in the markets that make up the huge gaps in Clearwire’s current footprint. Clearwire is saving a lot of its big market rollouts for later this year, and there’s a distinct possibility VZW could be the “first to 4G” in key markets such as New York City, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, depending how late in the year Clearwire completes its rollout schedule and how early in the fall VZW goes live.
That’s our take on this. Let us know what you think in the comments section below: