During the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Entertainment & Communications conference on Thursday, AT&T’s chief financial officer John Stephens said that AT&T will activate its 4G LTE network in its first five markets on Sunday, FierceWireless reported. The network has been active as part of a soft launch in the AT&T’s five markets, which include Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, and we have already seen a few glimpses of what the network is capable of. We published an exclusive video on September 6th which showed the HTC Jetstream 4G tablet achieving download speeds around 22Mbps and screenshots of a 4G modem achieving 13Mbps download speeds in Chicago. In addition, we saw the same modem reaching speeds up to 25Mbps in Atlanta. AT&T hopes to activate its network in 15 total markets and launch its first LTE smartphone by the end of the year.

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BGR exclusively reported last week that AT&T’s 4G LTE network has gone live in both Chicago and Atlanta, and at that time it was unclear if LTE was only available intermittently for testing or if the network had been soft-launched. Here we are a week later and the network is still live in both of these markets — and in the Dallas/Forth Worth area as well as in Houston, BGR has learned — so it is likely safe to say the latter is the case. More importantly in light of the fact that Labor Day is behind us and AT&T has been touting a summer launch for months, the carrier should make the launches official any day now. Considering AT&T’s network was recently ranked worst in the nation by J.D. Power, 4G LTE service can’t come soon enough. In the meantime, however, BGR was sent a video of AT&T’s new $700 Jetstream tablet running on the carrier’s LTE network in Chicago. A speed test shows that downloads peaked at over 22Mbps while upload speeds climbed above 6Mbps. AT&T’s previous-generation fourth-generation HSPA+ network is hardly lacking in the speed department, but it looks like LTE will top its performance and then some. A video showcasing a live test of AT&T’s 4G LTE speeds on the HTC Jetstream follows below.

AT&T announced on Tuesday that its first 4G LTE devices, including the USBConnect Momentum 4G and the Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G, will be available in-store and online later this month. The USBConnect Momentum 4G and Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G will launch on August 21st for $49.99 and $69.99, respectively, each with a new two-year agreement and after a $50 mail-in rebate. AT&T’s existing USBConnect Adrenaline modem will receive a software update on August 26th that will add support for the carrier’s 4G LTE network. AT&T will charge $50 per month for a 5GB data plan on its LTE network and any additional data past the 5GB cap will cost $10 per gigabyte. AT&T’s LTE network will first launch in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio this summer, and will eventually expand to at least 15 markets later this year.

AT&T senior vice president of mobility and consumer markets Pete Ritcher took the stage during the Oppenheimer Technology and Communications Conference on Wednesday, where he confirmed that AT&T will launch its first 4G LTE smartphone by the end of this year. Ritcher reaffirmed AT&T’s intention to deploy its LTE network in 15 markets covering 70 million people by the end of 2011, and it hopes to continue its roll-out on a market-by-market basis, Fierce Wireless reported. AT&T will initially only offer laptop cards alongside the new LTE network, and AT&T is expected to launch 4G LTE in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio this summer. “We are the only carrier with LTE and HSPA+,” Ritcher said. “When you don’t have LTE you will fall back to faster speeds than our competitors,” he added, noting that Verizon’s 4G customers fall back to the slower EV-DO network when LTE is not available.

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AT&T confirmed on Wednesday that it will deploy its 4G LTE network in five markets this summer, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The carrier did not specify additional markets slated to be rolled out in 2011, but it did say 10 additional markets will be deployed this year and 70 million Americans will be covered by the end of 2011. By contrast, Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network is currently available in 55 markets and it expects to deploy in 23 more markets next month. AT&T said it expects its network to offer LTE data speeds on a par with its competitors. Hit the break for AT&T’s full press release.

AT&T’s 4G Evolution

Dallas, Texas, May 25, 2011

By John Donovan, AT&T Chief Technology Officer

AT&T has delivered five mobile broadband speed upgrades in recent years, including our HSPA+ deployment last year. And average nationwide speeds on the AT&T network have increased – more than 40 percent over the past two years alone.

The next network evolution will arrive this summer with the addition of LTE in five markets – Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio. We plan to add another 10 or more markets in the second half of the year, and cover 70 million Americans with LTE by year-end. We also have plans to add 20 4G devices to our robust device portfolio this year, with some of those being LTE capable.

We’re positioning to deliver a great mobile broadband experience in the near term with HSPA+ and a growing LTE footprint.

We’ve invested $75 billion in our wireless and wired networks over the last four years – more capital invested in the U.S. than any company in any industry. And we plan to invest $19 billion in our wireless and wireline networks and other capital projects this year. The investments we’ve made to evolve our mobile broadband network in recent years, plus what we have planned for the future, put our customers in position to benefit fully from a host of coming mobile broadband innovations.

T-Mobile on Tuesday announced that its 4G HSPA+ network is now available in 10 new markets including Ames, Iowa; Anderson, Indiana; Battle Creek, Benton Harbor and Jackson, Michigan; Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado; Lawrence and Manhattan, Kansas; Springfield, Illinois and Wichita Falls, Texas. T-Mobile also reaffirmed that it will soon double the speed of its 4G network from 21Mbps to a theoretical download speed of 42Mbps in Las Vegas, New York and Orlando. Chicago, Long Island, N.Y. and Northern New Jersey are scheduled to get the speed boost shortly after, and the carrier says it hopes to deliver those speeds to more than 140 million Americans in 25 markets by mid-year. T-Mobile’s 4G network now covers 167 U.S. markets and more than 200 million people nationwide. Hit the jump for the full release.

T-Mobile Welcomes New Markets to America’s Largest 4G Network

Today, T-Mobile USA announced the continued expansion of its nationwide 4G mobile broadband network to 10 new markets. America’s Largest 4G Network now reaches 167 markets and more than 200 million people nationwide – offering a 4G experience to even more of its customers where they live, work and play.

New 4G markets include Ames, Iowa; Anderson, Indiana; Battle Creek, Benton Harbor and Jackson, Michigan; Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado; Lawrence and Manhattan, Kansas; Springfield, Illinois and Wichita Falls, Texas. A complete list of all the markets where T-Mobile’s 4G network is live can be found online at http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/articles/4g-fact-sheet.

With nationwide 4G and a great selection of 4G devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S™ 4G, T-Mobile® myTouch® 4G, T-Mobile®, Dell™ Streak™ 7, as well as the upcoming T-Mobile® G-Slate™ with Google™ by LG and T-Mobile Sidekick® 4G™ by Samsung, T-Mobile customers can upload videos and pictures to their favorite social media sites, get directions and stream video – and more – all while on the go.

Additionally, in 2011, T-Mobile is doubling the speed of its 4G network to achieve a theoretical download speed of 42 Mbps. T-Mobile customers in Las Vegas, New York and Orlando, Fla., are the first in the country to experience the increased 4G speeds (HSPA+ 42), followed closely by Chicago and further expansion of the New York network into Long Island, N.Y., and Northern New Jersey. By mid-year, T-Mobile expects more than 140 million Americans in over 25 markets to have access to these increased 4G speeds.

Today at CTIA, Verizon Wireless announced that its next generation, LTE, 4G network will cover 38 major U.S. cities and 60 additional airports by the end of 2010. Some of the initial cities getting LTE include: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The official press release, with a full list of cities an airports, is after the break.

Verizon Launches 4G LTE In 38 Major Metropolitan Areas by the End of the Year

4G LTE Network Also in Airports in Key Cities Outside of Initial Launch Area

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ – Verizon underscored its rapid deployment of the world’s first large-scale 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network today from the CTIA Enterprise & Applications™ 2010 conference. Lowell McAdam, president and chief operating officer of Verizon, detailed the company’s major network launch in 38 major metropolitan areas, covering more than 110 million Americans, by the end of the year. In addition, the company is launching 4G LTE in more than 60 commercial airports coast to coast – both the airports within the launch areas plus airports in other key cities.

McAdam said, “We are driven by the vision to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband connectivity and mobility to rural and urban Americans alike. With our initial 4G LTE launch, we will immediately reach more than one-third of all Americans where they live, right from the start. And, we will quickly introduce 4G LTE throughout the Verizon coverage area.”

McAdam highlighted the metropolitan areas for the initial launch, which include:

• Large sections of the Northeast Corridor, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
• Washington, D.C. as well as Rochester, New York
• Throughout Miami and south Florida, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and New Orleans as well as
• Charlotte, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee
• Chicagoland, St. Louis, the Twin Cities, Pittsburgh and major cities in Ohio
• Major population centers in California as well as Seattle, Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas

Verizon Wireless is building its 4G LTE network with the same commitment to performance and reliability for which it has long been recognized. Verizon Wireless’ laser focus on reliability is based on rigid engineering standards and a disciplined deployment approach year after year.

Enterprise users, businesses and individuals can immediately benefit from Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network this year. While Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network promises much more than speed, the first application gives employees the ability to work at significantly faster speeds and improved latency, increasing productivity and the opportunity to get work done where their business takes them.

McAdam continued, “Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network will also be available in the commercial airports in the 38 metropolitan areas, plus we’re launching airports in other key cities coast to coast, giving road warriors added coverage when they travel. Every time we’ve built a next generation network, our customers have seen real benefits to their bottom lines. Taking advantage of the first large-scale LTE network on the globe gives our customers a competitive advantage.”

Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE rollout positions the company to be the global leader in 4G LTE deployment. Verizon Wireless expects 4G LTE average data rates to be 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink in real-world, loaded network environments. These speeds are significantly faster than Verizon Wireless and other wireless providers’ current or promised 3G network speeds.

By leveraging its 700 MHz spectrum for LTE deployment in the United States, Verizon Wireless is capable of quickly deploying a high-quality wireless broadband network with excellent coverage. The company is currently installing LTE equipment at existing cell sites and switching centers around the United States as part of its extensive, ongoing investment in its voice and data network infrastructure.

In addition to the 38 major metropolitan areas, Verizon Wireless is launching its 4G LTE network in West Lafayette, Ind., home of Purdue University. The public university is using several innovative software applications on Verizon Wireless’ 3G network that improve student engagement and success, and Verizon Wireless is working with Purdue to explore the next phase of how 4G LTE technology can improve e-learning across the nation.

Visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte for more information about Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network.

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Initial Major Metropolitan Area Deployment

• Akron, Ohio
• Athens, Georgia
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Chicago, Illinois
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Columbus, Ohio
• Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Dallas, Texas
• Denver, Colorado
• Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Houston, Texas
• Jacksonville, Florida
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Los Angeles, California
• Miami, Florida
• Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota
• Nashville, Tennessee
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• New York, New York
• Oakland, California
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Orlando, Florida
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Rochester, New York
• San Antonio, Texas
• San Diego, California
• San Francisco, California
• San Jose, California
• Seattle/Tacoma, Washington
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Tampa, Florida
• Washington, D.C.
• West Lafayette, Indiana
• West Palm Beach, Florida

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Initial Commercial Airport Deployment (Airport Name, City, State)

• Austin Bergstrom International, Austin, Texas
• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshal, Glen Burnie, Maryland
• Bob Hope, Burbank, California
• Boeing Field/King County International, Seattle, Washington
• Charlotte/Douglas International, Charlotte, North Carolina
• Chicago Midway International, Chicago, Illinois
• Chicago O’Hare International, Chicago, Illinois
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Covington, Kentucky
• Cleveland-Hopkins International, Cleveland, Ohio
• Dallas Love Field, Dallas, Texas
• Dallas/Fort Worth International, Fort Worth, Texas
• Denver International, Denver, Colorado
• Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• George Bush Intercontinental/Houston, Houston, Texas
• Greater Rochester International, Rochester, New York
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Atlanta, Georgia
• Honolulu International, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Jacksonville International, Jacksonville, Florida
• John F. Kennedy International, New York, New York
• John Wayne Airport-Orange County, Santa Ana, California
• Kansas City International, Kansas City, Missouri
• La Guardia, New York, New York
• Lambert-St. Louis International, St. Louis, Missouri
• Laurence G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts
• Long Beach/Daugherty Field, Long Beach, California
• Los Angeles International, Los Angeles, California
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, Metairie, Louisiana
• McCarran International, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Memphis International, Memphis, Tennessee
• Metropolitan Oakland International, Oakland, California
• Miami International, Miami, Florida
• Minneapolis-St. Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Nashville International, Nashville, Tennessee
• New Castle, Wilmington, North Carolina
• Newark Liberty International, Newark, New Jersey
• Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International, San Jose, California
• North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Orlando International, Orlando, Florida
• Orlando Sanford International, Sanford, Florida
• Palm Beach International, West Palm Beach, Florida
• Philadelphia International, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Phoenix, Arizona
• Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, Mesa, Arizona
• Pittsburgh International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Port Columbus International, Columbus, Ohio
• Portland International, Portland, Oregon
• Rickenbacker International, Columbus, Ohio
• Ronald Reagan Washington National, Arlington, Virginia
• Sacramento International, Sacramento, California
• Salt Lake City International, Salt Lake City, Utah
• San Antonio International, San Antonio, Texas
• San Diego International, San Diego, California
• San Francisco International, San Francisco, California
• Seattle-Tacoma International, Seattle, Washington
• St. Augustine, Saint Augustine, Florida
• St. Petersburg-Clearwater International, Clearwater, Florida
• Tampa International, Tampa, Florida
• Teterboro, Teterboro, New Jersey
• Trenton Mercer, Trenton, New Jersey
• Washington Dulles International, Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.
• Will Rogers World, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• William P. Hobby, Houston, Texas

  
  

Some of you might be privy to a little bit of confidential BGR info, but for those of you who are not: I went to Chicago recently. In a car. Besides me harboring a hate for the entire of state of Pennsylvania, (because it’s ridiculously long to drive through) the trip was quite successful. One of the main reasons why I didn’t mind being in a car seven times longer than being in a plane was because I was blessed by two MiFi units; a Verizon Wireless unit and a Sprint unit. Plus, what better way to really test out two mostly identical devices on two completely different networks when you’re covering around 1700 miles round trip. I didn’t do a really vigorous string of tests or anything near our much-loved BGR Carrier Wars series. Instead I used one unit exclusively on the way to Chicago from New York City and the other unit on the way back. Here’s what I found…

The first MiFi I used was the Verizon Wireless unit. We all know how good Verizon’s reputation in the data department is and I had high hopes for this little bad boy. Before we get into how it fared, let’s look at the physical unit itself. It’s definitely smaller than you’d imagine if you have never seen or held one before, and Verizon opted to go with a glossy black top plastic piece with a soft touch rubberized finish on the underside. While this obviously goes well with Verizon’s black, red, and white color scheme, the review unit was scratch city already when I received it. Will this affect the device’s performance? Absolutely not, but I’m not terribly sure high gloss black plastic was the best of ideas as far as exteriors go. On the underside of the Verizon unit is a nice little sticker that will give you the pre-set passcode for the wireless network it transmits.

This is helpful so you can get going immediately when you purchase the unit instead of fumbling for the user manual or frantically calling that bastard salesperson that sold you the device. What’s really fantastic about the MiFi in general is that you get access to a router configuration page just as you would on your Linksys, Belkin, or whatever brand router you use at home or at the office. On that page you can customize just about anything including presents for different network modes (temporary hotspot, secure, open, etc.), port forwarding, MAC filtering, power and standby settings and a bunch more. You’ll see that Verizon and Sprint have different network configuration pages and we’ll go over both of them a little further down.

Here’s Verizon’s wireless configuration page and you’ll notice it looks just like their horribly-designed and crafted VZAccess Manager apps. But, Verizon isn’t about sparkle, they’re about substance and their configuration page (and arguably VZAccess Manager software) is extremely simple and quick to navigate and setup. After renaming the wireless network to something a little more clean (Verizon MiFi — original, I know) and setting a new Wi-Fi passkey, I was ready to go.

Immediately 5 bars of glorious mobile Wi-Fi appeared on my MacBook Pro. I entered the passkey and was off and running. After knocking through some work over IM, in the web browser, and in Outlook, I decided I’d start to speed test the Verizon MiFi. The highest speed I saw was around 950kbps and the lowest was around 780kbps (in Rev. A coverage areas). I think I completed one speed test over 1X and that was about 120kbps.

You can see a shot of one speed test I did that yielded 802kbps down and 557kbps up. Not bad at all if you need to have data access while on the move and definitely in line with Verizon’s other data products like USB sticks or ExpressCards.

Both MiFi units support high level security including WPA2-PSK and WEP Wi-Fi networks.

As far as Sprint’s unit goes, the finish is quite different on the top part of the casing. There’s a brushed aluminum texture which is glossed over with a clear coat that really doesn’t show scratches. Major bonus. Besides just looking lighter and being less scratch-prone, the Sprint MiFi externally is basically the same exact hardware as the Verizon device. Sprint doesn’t have a sticker on the underside of the unit with a default passkey for the Wi-Fi network, but since this review unit came with an open Wi-Fi network it wasn’t an issue I had to deal with. Bets are that it would be on the box or in some sort of included paperwork…

After selecting and configuring the Wi-Fi network to my liking (again, Sprint MiFi2200 — totally brilliant, right?) I was a happy camper on I-80 East. For some reason, and this might not actually be the case with every unit, I noticed the range of Wi-Fi signal to be a little worse on the Sprint MiFi than on the Verizon MiFi. I had read about this somewhere and it mentioned that since the Sprint unit was part metal compared to all plastic the Wi-Fi range suffered a bit. That’s obviously not true as the Sprint unit is not any part metal, so I’m not sure what exactly the reason for that was or if maybe the unit I was testing was a little broken in. Just think about how many Wi-Fi clients had been using that MiFi before me. Yikes.

While both units are pretty much identical when you get down to the nitty gritty, Sprint’s MiFi offers the ability to use the built-in GPS. This is really cool if you don’t have a GPS-enabled mobile phone and could possibly be a life-saver in some situations. You have the option of searching directly from the router configuration page using your GPS location, and displaying the coordinates of where you are, among other things. Very nice and very cool. As far as the look and feel of the configuration page goes, Sprint’s was really clean and had a bit more polish, shall we say, over the Verizon page. There was also an option in the power preferences to have the MiFi enter standby mode when plugged into a charger which the Verizon page didn’t have.

Not too surprisingly, speeds were a bit better on Sprint’s unit. We’d say an average of around a 150kbps difference even though there’s about a 300kbps difference from the speed tests we took photos of. The trade off is that Sprint’s coverage was not as good as Verizon’s and many times the Verizon unit would be in a Rev. A coverage area when the Sprint unit would only be chugging on 1X. Battery life was the same on both units at around 4 and a half hours of straight usage which actually ended up lasting throughout maybe half the day when going about the city on and off.

Both MiFi devices can support up to 5 wireless clients each simultaneously which is an incredible feat for a device so small and compact. You can also connect your MiFi via a microUSB cable to your computer and tether it while also charging the unit. The downside here, though, is that once the unit is connected to a computer over USB, routing data over Wi-Fi is not possible. Obviously if the unit is plugged into a microUSB wall charger you’re free to charge and surf without a hitch. Both units got mildly warm with strenuous usage, nothing alarming or even concerning. While I’m not daring enough to keep a MiFi in my pocket, when left in my backpack it turned out to be an awesome traveling companion, gladly picking up the slack from AT&T’s horrendous Chicago coverage.

As you can see from the review, both units are pretty much identical at the end of the day. Little minor exterior differences and even smaller hardware differences (I actually believe they are identical, just Verizon doesn’t enable the GPS function that Sprint does), it’s pretty tough to immediately call one a winner. I wish I could be more clear and really recommend one over the other — Sprint’s was a little bit faster in places, Verizon’s had better coverage and was a tad more reliable — but it’s really personal preference. I’ve been a Bell Atlantic customer and now a Verizon customer for a very long time and like their coverage. After I ship back the Verizon unit, I’ll be purchasing a Verizon MiFi for my personal use, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t be happy with a Sprint one.

Both devices retail for $99 with a 2-year agreement with qualifying monthly data plan.

Nokia has reportedly confirmed that some if its North American 5800 XpressMusic handsets are having 3G connectivity issues. The information, said to have been provided by an unnamed Nokia rep, suggests that only customers in Chicago and New York are experiencing difficulties while handsets in Dallas and Miami are working without issue. Nokia claims to be investigating both the device and the networks used in order to determine the source of the problem. Here’s the PR blurb:

We have learned that some Nokia 5800 XpressMusic devices are having issues with 3G performance. This is a very isolated problem concerning only the North American market* and is not specific to any other region or country. We are currently investigating the matter further to find a quick remedy to the situation. Customer satisfaction and product quality are very important to Nokia and we take all quality and customer satisfaction-related issues seriously. Nokia is investigating the issue. Existing customers of the 5800 XpressMusic who experience 3G signal issue with the device are advised to contact Nokia Customer Care.

*only NY and Chicago affected, in Dallas and Miami the devices are working OK. The investigation is ongoing on the device itself and the network used in these cases.

No word on how this will effect the general availability of the device but regardless of the outcome, such a problematic launch of Nokia’s first S60 5th Edition in the US does not bode well. On the other hand, here’s our theory: 3G handsets are developing AI and refuse to be crippled any longer by AT&T’s sorry excuse for a high-speed data network as it continues to reach new lows in several big cities around the country.

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After months of waiting, the Nokia N810 WiMAX edition went live on Nokia’s online storefront this week. No longer “Available Soon” the WiMAX version of the popular Internet Tablet is now “In Stock” and ready for shipping. A member over at Internet Tablet Talk reported that he has already received his and, to everyone’s surprise, is able to connect to Chicago’s not-yet-launched Xohm WiMAX network. He had to work a little tomfoolery and enter in a Baltimore zip code during the activation process but now he is enjoying the WiMAX wireless experience in Chicago. Awesome! The N810 WiMAX edition is currently being offered with a $50 instant rebate, bringing the price down to $433 plus shipping. Just a heads up, Nokia still has the N810 classified as a “phone”. With this being the fourth version of the Internet Tablet, you would think they would have created a new category for this niche device. Alas, that is not the case so you will have to click, not run, to the online Nokia USA store, phone category please, and order yourself a heap of WiMAX Internet Tablet goodness.

Thanks, Mister Ecua.

[Via Internet Tablet Talk ]

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