Verizon's new XLTE network doubles bandwidth for users of Apple's latest iPhones & iPads

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2014
Verizon, America's largest wireless provider, announced on Monday the launch of its new XLTE network, an enhanced version of its 4G wireless data that offers double the previous speed available on the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, as well as the LTE-compatible iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display.




Verizon said its new XLTE network has launched in neighborhoods or areas where demand is high, covering markets in 44 out of 50 U.S. states. It's expected to help during especially busy periods like rush hour, lunch time, or in crowded areas.

The full list of XLTE markets includes New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and virtually every other major city in the country, along with dozens of smaller markets.

"The industry and tech world recognize this is a big deal, and we want consumers to know, too," said Ken Dixon, chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless. "We continue to offer the very best network, bar none. Now, XLTE provides an even greater advantage to customers by doubling the 4G LTE bandwidth and providing faster peak speeds in cities coast to coast."



Verizon says its new XLTE network, which is available in markets where the AWS spectrum has been activated, will deliver double the bandwidth to customers with compatible devices, along with faster peak data speeds.

Customers with legacy LTE devices, such as Apple's iPhone 5, will also benefit from the extra capacity crated by XLTE capable devices moving to the AWS spectrum.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 65
    zroger73zroger73 Posts: 787member

    Yay! Now I can reach my usage cap twice as fast!

  • Reply 2 of 65
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,293member
    Well actually it's more than just for the Apple devices. It's for a wide range of devices on the Verizon network.

    Phones

    Moto X
    DROID ULTRA
    DROID MAXX
    DROID MINI
    HTC One (M8)
    HTC One Max
    LG G2
    LG Lucid 3
    Samsung Galaxy Note 3
    Samsung Galaxy Galaxy S5
    Samsung Galaxy S4
    Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
    Samsung ATIV SE
    Lumia Icon
    Blackberry Q10
    Blackberry Z30
    iPhone 5C
    iPhone 5S

    Tablets

    iPad Air
    iPad Mini Retina
    LG G Pad
    Samsung Note 10.1
    Samsung Galaxy Note Pro

    Jetpacks and Modems

    UML295 USB Modem
    Jetpack MHS291L
    Jetpack Mifi5510L
  • Reply 3 of 65
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    An article like this would benefit greatly if it were to state if the increased speed applies to download, upload or both. The commercial sort of suggests it applies to uploads: "for everyone to stream and share more".
  • Reply 4 of 65
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member

    Always makes me question the results when companies use phrases such as "2x faster" or "up to x% faster". Unless you know the original speeds that the company is expecting, how can you prove it's faster.

  • Reply 5 of 65
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,806member

    Isn't this just the same thing Sprint did with their Spark service back in October? Basically putting LTE as accessible on a different spectrum. 

  • Reply 6 of 65
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member

    Double bandwidth to be equal to ATT? Nice. My ATT iPhone 5 got 25 mbps most of the times and closer to my work place in Santa Clara, I get >50 mpbs. Beat that, Verizon.

  • Reply 7 of 65
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    fallenjt wrote: »
    Double bandwidth to be equal to ATT? Nice. My ATT iPhone 5 got 25 mbps most of the times and closer to my work place in Santa Clara, I get >50 mpbs. Beat that, Verizon.

    Still no LTE in my area from AT&T in 2014 with my iPhone 5S when Verizon had it when I bought my iPhone 5. I had faster internet and better quality calls with my previous iPhone. That said, my fault for assuming AT&T would have updated their network by the time I switched back.
  • Reply 8 of 65
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,806member

     

    I know people can post speedtests from the other carriers that are higher speeds but honestly I have never felt the need to go above 8Mbps on my phone. Videos and music streaming which have a far higher demand than web surfing work very well. I can't wait for the iPhone 6 that will support Sprint Spark which the 5 and 5s do not support since they do not support LTE on the 2.5Ghz spectrum. I am anxious not so much for the speed boost as how much greater coverage this will provide. 

  • Reply 9 of 65
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    Must be awesome to access your 2 GB cap even faster now!
  • Reply 10 of 65
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,806member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by msantti View Post



    Must be awesome to access your 2 GB cap even faster now!

    Lol, yep very good point which is why I am glad I still have an unlimited data plan. I am not even that heavy a user. Most of my data usage comes from streaming music whenever I am in the car so maybe an hour or 2 per day on average. Some occasional video usage, games, not a lot of web surfing and I went over 8GB last month. 

  • Reply 11 of 65
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,030member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gwmac View Post

     

    Isn't this just the same thing Sprint did with their Spark service back in October? Basically putting LTE as accessible on a different spectrum. 


    I don't think it's just the new spectrum.

     

    Verizon was the first major US carrier to deploy LTE because their 3G EV-DO technology was a dead-end, whereas AT&T and T-Mobile had HSPA+ that they could migrate to before moving to LTE.

     

    Being the first to market, Verizon used the LTE equipment available at the time, which has been superseded by better/faster generations of equipment.

     

    At this point, Verizon is catching up to more recent AT&T and T-Mobile LTE deployments which used faster equipment as they adopted LTE later than Verizon.

  • Reply 12 of 65
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    msantti wrote: »
    Must be awesome to access your 2 GB cap even faster now!

    I keep hearing that but that doesn't seem to happen. So a website loads a little faster but my reading of a website isn't increasing as a result. And a 5 minute YouTube video still takes 5 minutes to watch even if it starts playing after 3 seconds instead of 5 seconds.

    In fact, I'd say my usage has gone down because more of my usage is tied to apps which tend to use data more efficiently than a website that has to pull the entire UI from a server.

    Now there is an eventual cause and effect scenario as faster data allows for complexity and "beefy" data to be loaded but until the faster data is the norm that isn't likely to happen because it would negatively affect the majority.

    That leaves a couple seconds here and there where you could technically use that saved time for accessing more stuff thereby using more data as a consequence but who uses their device that way? I certainly don't. Despite my usage I have plenty of downtime with my iPhone because it's not a server running nonstop, 24/7.
  • Reply 13 of 65
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    gwmac wrote: »
    Lol, yep very good point which is why I am glad I still have an unlimited data plan. I am not even that heavy a user. Most of my data usage comes from streaming music whenever I am in the car so maybe an hour or 2 per day on average. Some occasional video usage, games, not a lot of web surfing and I went over 8GB last month. 

    Unless you get an option for higher bit rate music your hour or two per day of streaming music will still be the same amount of data regardless of whether you have 4Mib/s or 4Gib/s Internet access between your iPhone and your streaming service, save for someone that want to skip songs constantly using a streaming service that loads the entire song as soon as it's chosen.
  • Reply 14 of 65
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gwmac View Post

     

    Lol, yep very good point which is why I am glad I still have an unlimited data plan. I am not even that heavy a user. Most of my data usage comes from streaming music whenever I am in the car so maybe an hour or 2 per day on average. Some occasional video usage, games, not a lot of web surfing and I went over 8GB last month. 


     

    I got unlimited with T-Mobile.

     

    Clearly not the fastest thing out there but it works okay. I am not to anal about it.

     

    Price is pretty fair.

  • Reply 15 of 65
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,806member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    I keep hearing that but that doesn't seem to happen. So a website loads a little faster but my reading of a website isn't increasing as a result. And a 5 minute YouTube video still takes 5 minutes to watch even if it starts playing after 3 seconds instead of 5 seconds.



    In fact, I'd say my usage has gone down because more of my usage is tied to apps which tend to use data more efficiently than a website that has to pull the entire UI from a server.



    Now there is an eventual cause and effect scenario as faster data allows for complexity and "beefy" data to be loaded but until the faster data is the norm that isn't likely to happen because it would negatively affect the majority.



    That leaves a couple seconds here and there where you could technically use that saved time for accessing more stuff thereby using more data as a consequence but who uses their device that way? I certainly don't. Despite my usage I have plenty of downtime with my iPhone because it's not a server running nonstop, 24/7.

    I agree with you on the point of diminishing returns in terms of raw speed but really disagree in terms of actual usage. After getting LTE over a year ago my usage has increased many fold and like I said above I think I am not a data hog. Most of my usage I am guessing comes from streaming internet radio which is likely at 128Kbps speed I think. Doing that around 90 minutes a day gets me to around 8GB per month give or take a few above or below that on average. With a 2GB cap I would have to vastly change how I use my iPhone and really monitor my usage far more carefully. 

  • Reply 16 of 65
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    gwmac wrote: »
    I agree with you on the point of diminishing returns in terms of raw speed but really disagree in terms of actual usage. After getting LTE over a year ago my usage has increased many fold and like I said above I think I am not a data hog. Most of my usage I am guessing comes from streaming internet radio which is likely at 128Kbps speed I think. Doing that around 90 minutes a day gets me to around 8GB per month give or take a few above or below that on average. With a 2GB cap I would have to vastly change how I use my iPhone and really monitor my usage far more carefully. 

    At 128kib/s streaming music can be easily handled by nearly all versions* of the '3G' standard. It sounds like you changed how you used your device but I see nothing that was not possible with the previous '3G' iPhones.


    * '3G' can be as low as 384kib/s which could handle 128kib/s streaming music under the right conditions but is say at 8x that capacity of the bitrate is what I would consider the minimum.
  • Reply 17 of 65
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,806member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    Unless you get an option for higher bit rate music your hour or two per day of streaming music will still be the same amount of data regardless of whether you have 4Mib/s or 4Gib/s Internet access between your iPhone and your streaming service, save for someone that want to skip songs constantly using a streaming service that loads the entire song as soon as it's chosen.

     

    I posted my reply above before I saw yours. I am definitely a song skipper. I am not really sure how the internet radio services work. I believe iTunes radio is streaming at 256K if I am not mistaken which can really chew through some data quickly. My usage patterns have not changed with LTE but my data usage has gone up considerably so I attribute this to far higher quality audio and video streams. They sure sound better in my car to my ears at least. I can say this much with near certainty. I would have a very hard time staying below 2GB without some serious changes in my routine of using my iPhone. I say this because I also was rarely if ever under 2GB with only 3G. 

  • Reply 18 of 65
    ipilyaipilya Posts: 195member
    Considering that (real) 4g is a 100/Mbs technology... are they saying that this will now be 200/Mbs... or are they talking about doubling LTE Advanced which has download speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s making it now 2 Gbit/s.

    Sorry for being so cynical... but I hate how America has basterdised the meaning of 4G.
  • Reply 19 of 65
    techmanmiketechmanmike Posts: 147member

    As of now what would make me a lot happier would be for Verizon to launch Voice Over LTE. The fact that I can't do simultaneous voice & data 4 years after the launch of iPhone on Verizon has gotten quite a bit long in the tooth. And the fact that GSM AT&T has beat them to the punch even though voice & data is possible on their network, looks bad for VZW. It wasn't a deal breaker when they first got the iPhone, I was just happy to have an iPhone on VZW. But now that has worn off and I'd just like to be able to have internet capabilities when i'm on the phone and i'm not on WIFI.

  • Reply 20 of 65
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Seriously, who the **** has complaints about LTE speed? It's more than fast enough, leaving most home connections in the dust.
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