Verizon may be stealing the headlines with their break neck pace in rolling out their own LTE network, but AT&T is chugging along with their own LTE rollout, too. This week, AT&T launched new LTE networks in Nashville and Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, bringing their new total to 41 next-gen, high speed markets basking in the glory of LTE. And while it is a far cry (and a slower pace) than Verizon’s LTE efforts, AT&T is at least way ahead of Sprint and T-Mobile.
Sprint’s delay can be attributed to their multi-year “experiment” and eventual failure with WiMAX while T-Mobile’s delinquency could more or less be blamed on finances — they needed spectrum too, though again, you need money to own large amounts of spectrum. Sprint is testing small networks now with a public launch that will reportedly cover ~120 million people with LTE scheduled to drop by the end of the year, and nationwide by the end of 2014. Meanwhile, T-Mobile is also testing small LTE networks around the country and will begin their LTE rollout this year, too, and continue pushing out next-gen wireless through 2013. However, T-Mobile has also voiced plans to begin trialing “real” 4G (read: LTE-Advanced) in 2013 as well — something we’re really excited for. That said, Verizon, AT&T and Sprint have all also talked about trialing LTE-Advanced in the next 1-2 years.
Back on topic — AT&T users with LTE devices in some of AT&T’s newer markets are encouraged to share their experiences with us, whether by text or screenshot of your favorite speedtest app. Drop us a line below!
Via: LightReading
