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Sprint and Verizon objected, saying that only WiMax and LTE qualify as 4G technologies. Meanwhile, competitors AT&T and T-Mobile are taking the easier - and less expensive - route for now by upgrading existing equipment to evolved high-speed packet access (HSPA+) technology - although AT&T has also announced plans to roll out an LTE network over the next few years.Ĭan changing the name of a network make it run faster? That's the question before T-Mobile and AT&T, which in 2010 upgraded their 3G wireless networks with HSPA+ technology to make them deliver data faster - and then started advertising them as 4G networks.

Neither company offers 4G service outside the United States at present. That means Verizon will likely provide lots of 4G access on the two coasts, the south and the midwest, but it will be sparse in the northwest. The company plans to build out the network over the next two years to cover its current 3G footprint. Twenty-four states currently have no Verizon 4G service. cities, from Los Angeles to New York, as well as 60 airports for 4G LTE access. Verizon, which just launched its LTE service in December, has wired up 38 major U.S. Coverage is more complete on the coasts and sparser in the middle of the country there are 12 states with no Sprint 4G service at all. as Clear, is currently available in 62 cities, from Everett, Wash., to Tampa, Fla.

Sprint has a head start its partner Clearwire has been rolling out its WiMax network for a couple of years now. As we'll see later in this story, real-world speeds for both services are much, much lower than the theoretical ones, but still significantly faster than the companies' older 3G services.īoth 4G services depend on their providers building out nationwide networks with billions of dollars' worth of new equipment.