LTE SIM card pictured

Jul 19, 2010 10:40 GMT  ·  By

According to some internal documents on Verizon's 4G plans, leaked on Engadget's website, Verizon operator seems is on the track with its LTE network deployment. The operator is scheduled to launch its 4G network services by the end of the year in 30 cities. The same documents also reveal that Verizon plans to serve about 100 millions connections by the end of 2010, and that we should expect the release of some sort of 4G tablets in 2011. All connections are set to function in a 30ms latency limit, which is almost unbelievable.

The LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the latest standard in the mobile network technology tree that previously realized the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSxPA network technologies. The LTE specification provides downlink peak rates of at least 100 Mbps, an uplink of at least 50 Mbps and RAN round-trip times of less than 10 ms.

The main advantages with LTE are high throughput, low latency, plug and play, an improved end-user experience and a simple architecture resulting in low operating costs. LTE will also support seamless passing to cell towers with older network technology such as GSM, cdmaOne, UMTS, and CDMA2000.

Verizon's 4G customers are supposed to get 5 to 12 Mbps download speed, and 2 to 5 megabit per Mbps upload speed. The first devices that will be able to use the technology, USB modems, are yet to be announced. While voice service over LTE network is still not available, there's a chance that some operator's will develop some offerings as soon as the new technology will spread worldwide.

A picture of a Verizon 4G SIM card has also been spotted in the wild and shows how close the operator is to launching its new LTE network services. Smartphones that will work with the said technology aren't yet available on the market and few manufacturer announced plans to develop such devices, but we're hoping for more as soon as Verizon makes the official announcement.