14 DAY TRIAL // On Sunday, wireless carrier Verizon fired up its 4G LTE network in the United States, offering enhanced connectivity options to users in a number of 38 markets via two new device.
People in these markets, as well as those who travel through one of the select 60 airports the carrier covered with LTE, would be able to take full advantage of the new download speeds via two USB modems the wireless carrier put on sale, namely the LG VL600 and the Pantech UML290.
Although the carrier announced officially that only one modem would be put on sale for its users on Sunday, newer reports point at the immediate availability of both devices.
Offering access to both the new 4G LTE network at Verizon, as well as to the older 3G network the carrier still rocks in the country, the new devices can be purchased for $99.99 upon the signing of a two-year contract agreement with the wireless carrier and after a $50 mail-in rebate.
In case there are some who would like to purchase one of these without a contract, they would have to get $249.99 out of their pockets to buy any one of the two USB modems.
According to the wireless carrier, both the LG VL600 and the Pantech UML290 support speeds of up to 12Mbps on the downlink and of up to 5Mbps on the uplink, the maximum available at the moment on the new LTE network.
Not to mention that the modems offer support for 3G connectivity, which would prove a great option when outside 4G coverage.
As one can easily imagine, Verizon plans the addition of more similar devices to its offering in the near future, including the launch of 4G-capable mobile phones.
While the fact that these mobile phones would arrive at Verizon is no mystery, it still remains to be seen what OS they would run under, and which maker will deliver them.
Previous rumors suggested at a LTE-capable iPhone that should arrive at Big Red soon, as well as at a BlackBerry Storm 3 device, but nothing was officially unveiled on this.
Motorola was the only maker to confirm plans to launch a 4G smartphone during the first half of 2011, most probably an Android-based one, but specific info on this lacks as well.
What did Verizon confirm on this was that the first LTE-capable smartphone would arrive on its airwaves sometime in mid-2011, about a half a year from now. Hopefully, CES or MWC would bring more details on this, so stay tuned.
