Verizon Rolls Out 50 Percent Faster LTE Advanced Network Across 461 U.S. Cities
Verizon just launched LTE Advanced technology to bring 50% faster peak wireless data speeds. This launch includes 288 million people in 461 cities across the United States. Customers will be able to experience faster music, video, gaming, and VR streaming.
How does Verizon’s LTE Advanced work? Verizon utilizes software that combines two or three bandwidth channels into one larger channel. This channel then sends out data sessions through the most efficient “route”. The technology is often referred to as “carrier aggregation” and it employs a combination of 700 MHz, AWS, and PCS spectrum.
Two-channel carrier aggregations can produce peak download speeds of 225 Mbps, while three-channel carrier aggregations are able to provide up to 300Mbps. Most customers will still experience, however, typical download speeds of 5-12 Mbps.
Nicki Palmer, Verizon’s Chief Wireless Network Engineer, remarked, “Imagine a road with multiple lanes in which, once you pick a lane, that’s the lane you drive in....Continuing the metaphor, Verizon LTE Advanced allows cars to change lanes efficiently and flawlessly, balancing the flow of traffic and getting drivers to their destinations more efficiently.”
The additional speed and availability comes at no additional cost to customers. LTE Advanced will be available on a total of 31 devices including the HotHardware-reviewed Moto Z and Moto Z Force and HTC 10. These devices will receive an automatic software update to take advantage of the faster speeds.
The best part is, LTE Advanced is not restricted to major cities. The updates includes areas along highways, interstates, country roads, and more rural areas in the United States. This means that, “customers don’t need to stay in one place to get great high speed connections, they can use their mobile devices to actually be mobile and head to the places they want to go.”
