Although a lot of people are clamoring to finally have a proper 4G Phone when Apple’s next device is released next month, how important is LTE to the average consumer? Not very, it looks like.
The data comes from a poll of 3,000 individuals conducted by investment firm Piper Jaffray, which found that 47 percent of consumers don’t think they need LTE.
Of the rest, 26 percent indicated that they thought all 4G was the same, which isn’t surprising: this is the result of the war of misinformation that carriers without LTE (like Sprint, T-Mobile and even up until recently AT&T) have been waging against consumers, trying to trick them into believing that HSPA+ and WiMax offer the same speeds. Only 15 percent of all individuals polled seemed to realize LTE was superior to all other types of so-called “4G.”
Likewise, while individuals in the know are aware that Verizon has the biggest and most pervasive LTE network, Piper Jaffray’s poll says that 51% of those asked thought either that all 4G networks were the same or that they didn’t know who had the best 4G network.
Those results bode well for AT&T, who was late to the game compared to Verizon when it comes to LTE roll-out. However, these results should give Ma Bell pause: of those who plan to buy the next iPhone, 44% plan to do it on Verizon, while only 29% plan to sign up for one with AT&T, and 14% on Sprint. Considering AT&T controlled 100% of the iPhone market just a couple years ago, that’s a big slide in popularity.
Source: Apple Insider
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
9 responses to “44% Of Americans Want The Next iPhone On Verizon, But Don’t Care Much About LTE”
The big question is if the new Verizon 4G LTE on the iPhone will support simultaneous voice and data…It it did, I would be willing to make the change.
LTE is the only reason I’m considering switching back from AT&T to Verizon.
I’ve been told that the LTE network DOES support simultaneous voice & data. I suspect there is something on Verizon’s website that can confirm this (or not).
This is pretty indicative of consumer knowledge. They better care about LTE with the rip off data packages that are going to be drained even quicker with LTE. I have unlimited on AT&T. I am not willing to give up unlimited data so my next phone will be on AT&T as well. If I would have been able to afford to keep my unlimited data phone on Verizon (didn’t want to keep paying for 2 lines for myself), so that isn’t an option. If didn’t have a line with either, I would think long and hard about Sprint.
Kr00, Regarding your post a few down the page, it would be nice if you cleaned up your online language. Unless you are… like… 17… and… you know… like… don’t care about offending others.
Who cares about LTE when we’re being forced into their data plans. I’m on grandfathered unlimited right now, but will have to give that up to get the iPhone 5; unless of course I want to pay $600 for it out of pocket…
Just ran a speedtest.net test on my HTC Rezound…a 4G phone on Verizon.
I get 38mb down and 11mb up on Verizon’s 4G network.
Those folks who were polled are proof you don’t need to be “smart” to own a “smart” phone.
Yes, it will support simultaneous voice and data. 4G LTE has the capability to support this. The only reason why it doesn’t work with the 4S is because its strictly using CDMA. A technology much different the At&t’s GSM which supports simultaneous voice and data
I spent two days using my phone with WiFi switched off, downloading everything on 3G, and I didn’t even notice! The 3G speeds have become so good where I live that, if asked to pay more for LTE, I wouldn’t bother.