Verizon completes LTE technical trials

By on Jun 21, 2010 at 8:10 PM
mobile June 21, 2010

verizon-wireless-logo1

Verizon has marked yet another milestone on the road to LTE, as the carrier announced it has completed LTE technical trials in Boston and Seattle. Said David Clevenger, executive director of public affairs at Verizon Wireless, “technical trials are staged [and] tiered in accordance with industry standards. They’re [now] completed.” Verizon’s next step will be to initiate “friendly user trials” in which people, presumably employees, will test the network in five cities. Verizon expects to have its LTE network up and running in up to 30 markets before the year’s end.

[Via Phone Scoop]Read

Tags:
, , , , , ,
46 Comments

Related Articles

  • StevenHamburg

    exciting times we live in!

  • DROID DOES FORCE CLOSING

    Wow, I can’t wait to get my DROID 4GX in December when they release the 4th generation DROID. Maybe I will just wait for the highly rumored DROID Unbelievable in February?

    • StevenHamburg

      Are you insinuating that a new device every 2 months is a bad thing?

      You sorry sack of shit…

      • Joe B

        I think he’s just mad that the Iphone only gets released once a year and is outdated by Android in regards to features, functionality, and specs before it is even released.

      • JHOMEY78

        ANd how many are u willing to buy a phone every two months or so?

      • Rob D.

        It’s not about buying a new phone every 2 months. It’s about having a variety so consumers have a choice. So they can get a phone that best suits their needs and wants.

        How many time are you going to buy the same phone with minor upgrades?

      • Kyle

        It is in a sense. There needs to be a balance.

  • FriarNurgle

    Did he say “tiered”? I knew it.

  • Internal Email to Regional Presidents (leaked)

    When LTE rolls out, this will ultimately deflect attention away from the dire straights we as a company are in financially. Though we will continue forward, with a common goal of remaining Americas most reliable and largest cellular network, we are prepared to absorb substantial losses in our work force and financially. We will do our best to retain talent. A goal set forth to be achieved by no later than 2011 is to consolidate sales representatives and care representatives in to a “universal representative”. By cutting down on our companies current commission structure, we will gain more profit to continue growing our network in these challenging times. Though we still maintain a profit gain, and have in recent times. Our expenditures have simply outweighed our profits.

    • Razz

      someone sent this to a rep in my store yesterday. lots of people are worked up about it. seems legit… atleast the actual email.

      • Paul

        Saw this as well. It’s no secret where it came from and it’s definetley real. The knucklehead who sent it (you know who) cc’d a sales rep by the same name of a regional vp by accident.

      • Fanboy

        Then all 3 of you are idiots since Verizon Wireless (a privately held company) is no way in dire straits. One of it’s parent owner’s (Verizon Communications) isn’t doing well, but that’s because it’s mainly a landline telecommunications company…all those are doing horrible. VZW maintains the highest profit ratings of any of the big 4. Do some research…

      • Joe B

        He’s right it is the lanline phone/internet side that is having a very rough time of it. Verizon Wireless however is consistently growing its customer base and profit margins quarter after quarter.

      • justme

        but you see when the parent company is not doing well the whole company is not doing well. For example, I have a friend who does technical work for ESPN, when the Disney Parks are purging $$$ the people at ESPN and ABC are the ones who suffer. When VZW communications is loosing billions upon billions each quarter it dips into VZW wireless for the shortfall. Thus their big push on VIOS or what ever its called. You want to try again? Maybe just maybe you should do some research there fanboy

    • getoverit7

      how do you maintain a profit gain when you expenditures outweight the profits?

      come on they just spent billions on spectrum, alltel acquisition, and 4g network buildout..

      someone correct me if i’m wrong but i remember reading recently that Verizon Wireless is a debt-free company. You don’t get debt free by losing money….

      • Paul

        @getoverit7

        Whoever posted this didn’t post the whole thing. Profit gain meaning that the company is making money off of consumers but burdened with spending it all back on their employees.

      • Paul

        Well not all of it but you catch my drift. In other words, they are probably going to start cutting back.

      • Joe

        I doubt Verizon is hard up for money, they are one of the most expensive carriers in the country AND have the most customers.

        And if this were true, it would just be yet another result of poor money management… which is the case with a lot of large corporations. Then sadly the people that actually do the work lose their jobs, meanwhile all the “big wigs” keep their jobs playing golf in their offices and going on vacation every month and bring home multi million dollar paychecks for doing so.

      • Genevive

        Far from it. They have more wireless only debt than any other US wireless provider.

        For years Verizon Communications has leveraged their Wireless Division to offset their rapidly declining landline subs and to help fund huge mutli-billion dollar projects like FiOS.

        Unfortunately, the rapid wireless growth of yesteryear is gone forever and with faster landline loss and less wireless profits the ship is starting to become to top heavy.

        To help offset their losses they’ve upped the ETF’s to $350 and now force data plans on people who don’t even need it.

        The hundred dollar Droid Does TV spots and billboards are also very expensive.

        From a shareholders perspective, Verizon needs to cut more, eliminate unlimited data plans and raise prices/fees where they can. Their own CEO admitted last quarter to investors that he will do what he can to get customers to pay more wherever however he can.

      • Andrew

        I think that you are forgetting that Verizon Wireless and Verizon Communications are separate companies. Although Verizon Communications owns a majority interest in Verizon Wireless, it’s not like they are able to use the wireless company to absorb the losses of Verizon Communications.

        In my opiniom, I think Vodafone has really been screwed in the whole arrangement, despite their constant efforts to buy out Verizon’s equity.

      • Sin City

        Any company that acquires another company, takes upon their debt. I have a Masters in Business Management/Finances, but I don’t know how this work. What the fuck is your point, exactly besides typing out fanboyism all over the page. Verizon Wireless wouldn’t be in debt if it wasn’t for Alltel? Spectrums, LTE buildouts, nationwide EVDO coveragse, M2M, and Verizon could through all of these options with Zero debt? What a hilarious debate I’m having. AT&T isn’t debt free, Sprint with their acquisitions aren’t debt free, and T-Mobile USA is nowhere close to being Debt Free.

      • Sin City

        *coverage and this post was towards T’s brilliant post.

      • Sin City

        Debt Free? You’re joking , right? Numbers changes daily, but last I checked, they had a 20 Billion dollar debt. This is not surprising for a successful company who spends billions on trying to secure their growth in this fast changing economy. None of the carriers are debt free.

      • Tell the truth

        I’ll bite…@Sin City and @Genevive- Please elaborate on exactly where you found this information? Would you kinda share your source and any websites documenting Verizon Wireless’ financial woes?

      • T

        Not gonna happen… people here are unable to differentiate companies that have similar names and think they are the same… Verizon Communications will always be Celco Partnership dba Verizon Wireless in their eyes… nevermind that one is a publicly traded company, and the other is privately held and nobody has ever seen their books other than those that actually work in their treasury department…

      • Sin City

        Since it seems that you’re not aware on how Google works, let me post at least one source that state this, and it’s only going to take 30 seconds.

        http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-18/vodafone-may-receive-verizon-wireless-dividend-payments-starting-in-2012.html

      • T

        Right… all profit is reinvested into the network… hence, Verizon Wireless having the most comprehensive nationwide network in the country with the more spare 700 mhz and AWS spectrum than any other carrier…

        Your 20 billion in debt, refers to the acquisition of Alltel… when a company buys out another company, they assume their debt. This is where reading comprehension must be higher than a 1st grader, because the sentence reads as follows: “Verizon Wireless’s borrowings swelled when it bought Alltel last year to become the largest U.S. mobile-phone company, taking on more than $20 billion in debt.” It ****TOOK ON**** the 20 billion in debt that Alltel had. It did not POST a 20 billion dollar loss, in fact, it didn’t post anything, because Verizon Wireless DOES NOT release financials. They are not 20 billion dollars in the red. You are just too stupid to understand what you’ve just read.

    • bkafrick

      Where is this claimed internal email? Has it appeared on any of these websites??

  • StevenHamburg

    Verizon got themselves in a world of shit with all of the money they invested in Alltell. In general, they have spent entirely too much money on building up their network and haven’t saved enough for the rainy days (a.k.a Monumental economic downturns and/or Recession)

    • nelroc

      Their network is the reason I am with Verizon, I think all the other cellular companies could learn a lesson from them. What is the point in paying for a cell phone if you don’t get service and have dropped calls? If I am going to pay all that hard earned money I want to be able to use my phone. At least I have a network to stand behind my nice shinny phone!

  • cj

    These things happen when you make deals for crap phones like the kin 1 and kin 2, palm devices and the upcoming blackberry 9670. Spending money in shit places will come back to bite you.

  • Paid_Verizon_Defender

    Please stop it with the tiered data pricing complaints. If Verizon says they’re going to implement it then it’s probably in the best interests of all consumers.

  • airtouch Sally

    I work for Verizon. We’re told to remind customers who call in to question the upcoming tiered data pricing that it’s going to be done to “enhance the customer experience.”

    And we can’t offer credits or recommend that a customer remove any unneeded features otherwise we’ll be subject to disciplinary action up to but not limited to termination.

    • HTC = poor build quality

      That makes plenty of sense actually. Verizon is out to ass rape it’s customers.

    • Tell the truth

      Sally- I personally know that what you just said is bogus. I get that you are an under performer and on the way for a promotion to customer….still even for you this is low. You know as well as I do this is not VZW’s position. And anyone that believes this to be true…well, I got a GREAT piece of Ocean front property in Arizona that I can make one hell of a deal for you….just because I like you!

  • S dot

    And they still don’t have the iphone….

  • Franky

    I keep hearing that LTE will be in X markets by end of year, and Y more by end of next year. My question is: which markets?

    • Scorpeo

      Verizon will supposedly have LTE available “commercially” by the end of 2010. Verizon will not have a LTE handset until mid 2011,*at the earliest*.

  • will i am

    The only reason Verizon threw us a bone (insert your favorite Droid here) is because they couldn’t get the iPhone.

    Whether the Droid is better or worse is irrelevant.

    Just before the Droid launched Verizon’s PR machine touted that they don’t need pretty phones to compete and that their customers only value the ability to make calls.

  • Paid_Verizon_Defender

    Why did you downrank my post?

    Verizon does a lot of research. Research tells us that most customers don’t know the difference between a MB and a GB.

    By tiering our data plans, we now have the opportunity to charge users more for data as opposed to flat rate pricing before.

    Plus we have the most fanboys willing to defend our every move than any other carrier. Why pay more lobbyists in Washington when we get it for free all over the web and have dumb employees who spread the gospel unpaid?

  • vzwemp

    I am an employee for Verizon Wireless, I don’t even know what markets they are releasing LTE in. I work in tech support and I don’t even know which phones are coming in the future unless I read sites like BGR and Engadget or Gizmodo. Don’t call us about LTE please, we know as much as BGR and that’s if we read their posts. In my opinion the Droid is better than the Iphone, and I want to slap any customer who calls in and asks in a whiny voice “Why don’t you have the iphone??”

    Because we don’t. That’s why, we don’t, and we don’t know why. If you want the iphone try the droid incredible instead, its better anyway. The only reason you want an iphone is because everyone says the iphone is good. Well compare them and do some research on your products before you call in and whine about the iphone. I can help you with Verizon Wireless products, not apple crap or speculation. Thank you.

  • Crunch

    HAHAHHA…Wow. I was not going to ever get Verizon anyway, but this puts them at a new low and will for quite a few other people, too.

    I’ll do my part. I know where to spread links to this blog to guarantee some Verizon hurt. :D This is AWESOME!

  • BKS

    I know you don’t really believe that’s a Verizon employee?? Seriously i hope your being as sarcastic as vzwemp was!!!

  • mudpud

    I LOVE Verizon. That’s b/c I’ve tried AT&T for a few years before I got onto the Big Red in 2005. Let me tell you – they rock! I get a 22% monthly discount on my whole bill because of my school. I get unlimited global data for $30 a month. And I get early upgrade offers at the NE2 price plus a $50 loyalty credit. Suck on that AT&T!

    Posted from my DROID Incredible. Not BGR Mobile.

  • dad

    Right on time.

  • HonoluluGuru

    Even a company as large as Verizon cannot launch 30 markets by year’s end. It’s a logistic nightmare and they are now just beginning real tests. But live in your delusional world just like Apple fanboys!

blog comments powered by Disqus