AT&T may be a little behind in its 4G Long Term Evolution network roll out, but Verizon will bring LTE to two US cities late in 2009 and expand to 25 to 30 markets in 2010. Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson have been called on the supply the new radio equipment for the fourth generation mobile network which can theoretically support speeds up to 100 Mbps. The wireless provider says that trials with Vodafone in the US and Europe have maxed out at 80 Mbps, so the average speed is likely much lower. Even so, AT&T’s holdover HSPA+ 3G upgrade support maximum theoretical download speeds of 42 Mbps, so the difference is huge. The first devices to have LTE support will be notebooks and the first LTE handsets should arrive sometime in 2011. Verizon says other devices such as digital cameras will also likely support LTE in the future.
