Verizon Wireless on Thursday announced that its lightning fast 4G LTE network now covers more than half of the U.S. population. We have repeatedly called Verizon’s LTE network the fastest cellular network we’ve ever used, and the fact that the carrier has been able to roll it out so quickly with only a few hiccups is nothing short of impressive. ”In eight short months we’ve introduced our 4G LTE network to more than half of the U.S. population, while continuing to offer the nation’s mos...

Verizon Wireless on Thursday confirmed that its 4G LTE network is now available in Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama; Greater Fairfield and New Haven, Connecticut; Gainesville Pensacola and Tallahassee Florida; Fayetteville-Lumberton, North Carolina; and Bryan-College Station and Temple-Killeen, Texas. The nation’s largest wireless carrier also said that it’s expanding the 4G footprint that is already available in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, and Philadelphia, to cover more customers. Veriz...

The nation’s fifth largest wireless provider — MetroPCS — announced the addition of Tampa, Florida to its LTE portfolio. “As we have built-out our 4G LTE service across the nation, we continue to be dedicated to making our customers’ lives easier by providing them with feature-rich smartphones that let them do more on our network,” said the company’s president, CEO and chairman Roger D. Linquist. Tampa joins Atlanta, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Jacksonville, Las Vega...

Via a press release today, AT&T announced a new, comprehensive insurance offering dubbed Mobile Protection Pack. As the company explains, the new offering is a combination of three services: mobile insurance, enhanced support, and mobile locate. Mobile Protection, which will retail for $9.99 per month, covers subscribers against equipment loss, theft, accidental damage, liquid damage, and out-of-warranty malfunction. It also provides users with the ability to locate, lock, and trigger an alarm on a mi...

Verizon Wireless on Tuesday announced the addition of 59 new markets that will be covered by the carrier’s 4G LTE service in 2011. These new regions are in addition to the 88 markets Verizon Wireless already announced, bringing the total number of projected markets that will receive LTE coverage from Verizon this year to 147. “Aggressively expanding this powerful network beyond major metro areas reflects the reality that the 4G LTE ecosystem is growing quickly, ” Verizon Wireless CTO David Small...

Look, I have been dreaming about a Verizon iPhone since the original announcement was made in 2007. I’ve always admired Verizon’s insanely solid and reliable wireless network, even before it was Verizon (someone tell James Earl Jones I said what’s up). I had the first digital phone Verizon Wireless offered (following countless analog phones prior to that), and I’ve had many more since then. But I switched away from Verizon Wireless as soon as I saw that the handsets available in Europe...

Via a short press release, T-Mobile announced the addition of five metropolitan areas to its HSPA+ portfolio. Des Moines, Iowa; Gainesville and Panama City, Florida; Monterey, California; and Savannah, Georgia will now have access to T-Mobile’s 21Mbps, HSPA+, 4G network. The company notes that customers can expect real-world speeds between 5Mbps and 12Mbps depending on network traffic. T-Mobile now covers 157 markets with its 21Mbps, HSPA+ network, and expects to double speeds to 42Mbps in 2011. (more&#...

Allow us to bring you up to speed in case you missed it — Verizon Wireless just announced that it will finally begin carrying the iPhone 4 starting on February 10th. It’s kind of a big deal. There are definitely plenty of positives tied to the Verizon iPhone, of course. For starters, choice is always a good thing and the fact that AT&T finally lost iPhone exclusivity will benefit consumers in a big way. And there are plenty more benefits as well — for example, there’s a redesigned antenna ...

Yesterday, my cohorts weighed in on the question on countless iPhone owners’ minds right now — should I ditch AT&T and buy an iPhone from Verizon? The answer is going to be different for everyone, of course. Some people have a compulsive need to switch phones constantly, so they can’t use a CDMA carrier. Some people have a need for speed and Verizon’s 3G network doesn’t cut it. Well guess what? I have a need for a phone that actually works wherever and whenever I want it to. That...

Are you currently deciding whether you should get a new iPhone 4 from AT&T or wait a few weeks for the imminent Verizon iPhone launch? Do you need help determining which carrier provides the best cellular coverage in your most treaded areas? Do you just want extra fodder for the perpetual and infinitely ridiculous “my network is better than your network” argument that takes place on countless forums and blogs? Say hello to Coverage?, a new iOS app from Technomadia. The function of this great l...

The image above says it all. It shows a screen capture of an actual speed test performed on an Apple iPhone 4 while connected to AT&T’s 3G network in northern New Jersey. It is not an anomaly. In fact it’s pretty standard in my home town and in the surrounding areas. Sometimes my download speed is faster and sometimes it’s slower, but it generally stays between 3.5 and 5Mbps¹. I can’t give that up. (more…)

AT&T might not call its HSPA+ network “4G” like T-Mobile does, but trust us when we tell you… AT&T’s enhanced 3G network can move. The screen shot above, taken just outside New York city on Wednesday afternoon, shows an iPhone 4 enjoying download speeds of 5Mbps on AT&T’s HSPA+ network. According to AT&T CTO John Donovan, 80% of AT&T’s network is now covered by HSPA+, though he did not elaborate on average speeds are experienced in various regions. Donov...

Remember that Verizon phone recovery service we told you about five days ago? Well… today, Verizon has made it a reality; albeit four days later than predicted. Via a press release, Big Red announced Mobile Recovery, “a web-and phone-based application that can help customers in the event they lose or misplace their phones.” The Mobile Recovery software — which will work on Android, BlackBerry, Palm, and Windows Mobile handsets — can remote lock and remote wipe your device as wel...

You can say what you want about the quality of AT&T’s network — and we know you will — but at least they are trying. In a barrage of press releases this morning, AT&T announced that it has spent over $3.5 billion on its network during the first six months of 2010. Some of the investments include $1.1 billion in California, $350 million in Illinois, $275 million in New York City, $225 million in New York, and $200 million in Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Anyone out there see...