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Verizon and AT&T Expand LTE Coverage in Many Regions Ahead of iPhone 5 Launch

Wednesday September 19, 2012 11:57 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
Both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have announced new and expanded areas for LTE coverage in the U.S. LTE is the high speed wireless data networking standard that comes with the iPhone 5 and represents a substantial boost in speed over 3G.

Cult of Mac and iMore have consolidated the list of locations from the network press releases:

New AT&T LTE

Anchorage, Alaska
Birmingham, Alabama
Detroit, Michigan
Honolulu, Hawaii
Memphis, Tennessee
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Portland, Oregon
Sacramento, California
Seattle, Washington

New Verizon LTE

American Falls, Idaho
Americus, Georgia
Aspen-Snowmass, Colorado
Billing and Helena, Montana
Bremerton, Colorado
Coffeyvilley, Kansas
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Ellijay, Georgia
Emporia, Kansas
Greely Colorado
Lawrence, Kansas
Marion County, Ohio
Moultry, Georgia
Merced, California
Pueblo, Colorado
Richmond, Indiana
Silverdale, Colorado
Statesboro, Georgia
Tifton, Georgia

Expanded Verizon LTE:

Asheville, North Carolina
Arizona (southern area "includes Interstate 10 north to include Marana and east to Vail; the community of Sonoita; and along Highway 86 west to Three Points.")
Bemidji, Minnesota
Bloomington, Illinois
Clinton, Iowa
Dayton, Ohio
Greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Kansas, City, Missouri
Lincoln, Nebraska
Normal, Illinois
Mattoon, Illinois
Morehead City, North Carolina
Lincoln, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Peoria, Illinois
Quad Cities, Iowa
Rochester, Minnesota
San Diego, California
Springfield, Ohio
Sterling, Illinois
[ 77 comments ]

Top Rated Comments

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Avatar
T.Smith4
Posted: 9 months ago
AT&T's LTE list is pathetic.
Rating: 6 Positives
Avatar
aristokrat
Posted: 9 months ago

I'm guessing she didn't update her software and that's why hers still says "3G". With the 5. Whatever update it was they said that 3G was fast enough to be displayed as 4G but true 4G is LTE.


LTE isn't any more "true" 4G than any other respec'ed wireless standard. It may evolve into it (thus "long term evolution"), but 4G was supposed to be a stable 100 Mb/s mobile and 1 Gb/s stationary with both voice and data over the same connection. If we're going to down spec that standard to fit a lesser definition, who's to say when we stop.

Regardless, it would behoove us all if we stopped buying into some meaningless G number and instead demanded speed claims, which we could then take the carriers to task for when we didn't get what was advertised.
Rating: 4 Positives
Avatar
QCassidy352
Posted: 9 months ago

AT&T's LTE list is pathetic.


Yes, but I like that the iPhone 5 can fall back to hspa+ 21, and AT&T has a good amount of that coverage.
Rating: 3 Positives
Avatar
theBB
Posted: 9 months ago
Verizon is so good, it is expanding coverage in Lincoln, Nebraska twice in one day. :)
Rating: 3 Positives
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mattpol
Posted: 9 months ago
Meanwhile, Sprint is very proud to announce a single new TDMA tower in Des Moines.
Rating: 2 Positives
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Emmanuelc
Posted: 9 months ago

Is this like the AT&T 4g lies. I have the 4s and wife has the 4. We both run a speed test and get same results but mine shows 4g hers shows 3g


I'm guessing she didn't update her software and that's why hers still says "3G". With the 5. Whatever update it was they said that 3G was fast enough to be displayed as 4G but true 4G is LTE.
Rating: 2 Positives
Avatar
JoeHemi
Posted: 9 months ago
They should have announced the list BEFORE the iPhone 5 preorder release. Especially since so many people jumped ship to Verizon because of AT&Ts lack of LTE in those markets.
Rating: 2 Positives
Avatar
JBuff88
Posted: 9 months ago

They should have announced the list BEFORE the iPhone 5 preorder release. Especially since so many people jumped ship to Verizon because of AT&Ts lack of LTE in those markets.


Verizon's LTE locations are still far superior to AT&T's, even with the few additional cities AT&T added. It wouldn't have helped much.
Rating: 2 Positives
Avatar
jtwurth
Posted: 9 months ago

AT&T's LTE list is pathetic.


No doubt. The only thing that kept me with AT&T this time around was the penalty fee on early contract termination. Their expansion and coverage in Cincinnati has been pathetic. No LTE and for years anytime you went downtown 3g coverage was maxed so your phone had a great signal but was nothing more than a paper weight.

They've only JUST expanded towers enough to fix that issue. I'm hanging onto my 4S for one more year and then jumping ship to Verizon.
Rating: 2 Positives
Avatar
Mundty
Posted: 9 months ago
Verizon almost seems like a sure bet, until you factor the monthly costs for a single user on their shared data plans. You realize not only are they forcing you to pay for features you don't need (unlimited voice/text), but they charge more money for less data. Let's not forget unlimited customers have to pay full retail to keep grandfathered plans.

You couldn't pay me to switch to Verizon, I don't care how good their coverage is, it's not worth worrying what kind of anti-consumer policies they'll enact next. I've learned one thing watching these news updates, Verizon is one of the most dishonest and greedy providers in the business.

When someone asks me where to go to for an iPhone, I tell me AT&T for better coverage and speed, and Sprint for better value and policies. Verizon doesn't even enter the conversation anymore.
Rating: 2 Positives

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