Good news for AT&T iPhone owners envious of Verizon’s next-generation LTE network: Apple’s original U.S. carrier Wednesday announced the faster transmission technique will become available this summer, setting the stage for iPhones and iPad’s based on the 150Mbps technology in 2012.
Still, the five-city rollout is more modest than Verizon, according to early reports.
The Long-Term Evolution network will first appear in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, AT&T business-solutions head John Stankey told investors. The carrier expects to unveil 10 more markets for its 4G product by the end of the year.
By comparison, Verizon Wireless expects to have LTE in 76 markets by mid-June.
The news comes as AT&T fights a negative image among iPhone users for congested networks and capping speeds for the iPhone 3G. Introducing LTE would go far in erasing some of that bad taste for iPhone owners. We reported earlier this month that AT&T’s LTE version tested at 28.87Mbps for downloads – higher than Verizon’s 5-12Mbps. LTE is capable of 150Mbps.
A LTE iPhone likely won’t appear until 2012. However, there’s the outside chance Apple may announce an LTE version in September. What do you think? Will LTE help AT&T survive in a post-Verizon world? Let us know in the comments.
