Mobile
AT&T 4G LTE Network to Improve Thanks to Verizon Deal
Today AT&T announced that it will buy spectrum in the 700MHz B band spectrum from Verizon Wireless for $1.9 billion in cash and AWS spectrum.
The spectrum licenses AT&T will purchase from Verizon will cover 42 million people across 18 states including California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
AT&T will also give Verizon AWS spectrum for several markets in the U.S. including Phoenix, Ariz., Los Angeles and Fresno, Calif. and Portland, Ore.
The new spectrum will help AT&T expand its 4G LTE network in several markets. It will help AT&T catch up to Verizon Wireless which is already close to matching its 3G footprint with its 4G LTE network. AT&T wants to cover 300 million people in the U.S. with 4G LTE coverage by the end of 2014, and this spectrum will help the company achieve that goal.
The spectrum purchase still has to go through regulatory approval, and AT&T expects the deal to close sometime in the second had of 2013.
Recently AT&T purchased what remains of the Alltel wireless network in the U.S. to help its rural coverage. That deal will likely only help expand the carrier’s 3G and “4G” network at first, but it will still expand the network’s reach.
As part of the deal Verizon will receive cash and AWS spectrum for its own network. Verizon will likely use the AWS spectrum as way to help keep its 4G LTE network strong. The spectrum is the similar to what T-Mobile will use for its 4G LTE network.
Verizon plans to complete its 4G LTE rollout around the middle of this year while AT&T will use the spectrum to help meet its goal of a complete roll out by the end of next year. Sprint and T-Mobile, the other two major carriers are still far from completing rollouts. The latter carrier only just started its rollout.
Larry
01/25/2013 at 11:24 am
Finally will the AT&T V/S Verizon come to peace terms??? I had AT&T and was slow but cheaper on my bill but Verizon is a bit better but not worth twice the bill!! So good luck AT&T :))) you always don’t get better when paying more!!
Chais
01/25/2013 at 11:42 am
Since I’ve bought my att iPhone 5 on the day of launch I have seen many 3G (att calls 4g) upgraded to LTE! I have to say they are rolling LTE out fast here in RI and MA. Doesn’t mean they treat their customers good in any way. So many rules and regulations. So many promises and let downs from them promises. The worst is how they treat their unlimited data customers, long time paying customers. They convince us to go with them for their unlimited plan. Then they tell us We can only use 3gb before they throttle the data to below edge speeds. They use there sneaky words to weasel out of there promises by saying “att only promise the highway not the speed limit”. I see no reason why I’ve bought every iPhone since the 1st gen and stuck with att. I buy 3 or more at a time every launch. This is going to change! I’m DONE!
Ryan Reynolds
01/26/2013 at 12:20 am
It’s capped at 5GB for 4G LTE users
https://www.att.com/esupport/datausage.jsp
JayInCA
01/27/2013 at 12:53 am
Then you need to check out T-Mobile. The LTE network is rolling out this year, and TMo will carry the iPhone. The new iPhone should run faster on TMo’s network because it is it will be the latest LTE-Advanced release 10 version of LTE and there will only be a third of the users hogging bandwidth on the network. All that and save money on your bill.
Zeke
01/30/2013 at 6:51 am
Hey the only reason you get throttled is because too many people are trying to abuse the network.
even people abuse Verizon Wireless why do you think they stop unlimited data too
nothings unlimited now because of something called “fair usage policy” look it up, every company has one. it doesn’t only apply to cell phones, but every company probably has 1
And surprisingly most smartphone users use under 2 gigs of data in 1 month