Verizon Expanding 4G LTE Network To Five New Markets

Verizon announced today that they are expanding their 4G LTE network. The network will be activated in five new markets tomorrow and expanded in three others. Tomorrow’s launches bring the total number of markets with access to the 4G network to 195.

Verizon will flip the switch tomorrow on networks in Glens Falls and Utica in New York, Brownsville and McAllen in Texas, and Lawton, Oklahoma. Networks in Atlanta, Houston, and Spokane are being expanded.

Users connected to Verizon’s 4G network should generally experience downlink rates from 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps), and uplink speeds of 2-5 Mbps.

Verizon offers a wide variety of 4G devices on its network, including LG’s Spectrum, which was announced at CES 2012, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, and Motorola’s Droid line of phones. The iPhone 4S is not LTE capable, so it cannot run on Verizon’s network (a problem AT&T worked around by dual-layering their LTE network with an HSPA+ network, which the iPhone 4S is compatible with). The next-generation iPhone, presumably coming this summer, will probably have LTE capability.