Verizon Wireless said Tuesday that it will activate its Long Term Evolution wireless network 
in 19 more metropolitan areas on Thursday, including Dayton, Fresno, Hartford, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and Spokane. The network operator also said it will expand its existing 4G LTE network in San Francisco and Detroit this week.
So Verizon will soon be offering data -download speeds of five to 12 megabits per second in 74 metropolitan areas across the United States, and speeds of two to five Mbps for uplinks, noted Verizon Wireless Chief Technology Officer David Small.
"We are aggressively expanding our 4G LTE network," Small said. "By the end of 2013 we plan to bring 4G LTE mobile broadband to our entire 3G coverage area."
LTE Upgrade Choices
Verizon subscribers who wish to upgrade to LTE's faster speeds have a selection of hardware options from which to choose. On the smartphone side, Verizon currently offers the HTC Thunderbolt, the LG Revolution, and the Samsung Droid Charge.
New LTE modem cards from Novatel, Pantech and LG are available for purchase by laptop users, and also on tap are 4G-compatible mobile hot-spot products. On the downside, fans of Apple's iPhone and iPad will need to stick with 3G for a while yet.
Some analysts are predicting that Apple will roll out a new iPhone 5 in September. "Given iOS 5 will be available this fall, we believe implies new iPhone hardware in September," observed Piper Jaffray analysts Gene Munster and Andrew Murphy earlier this month.
Still, this doesn't necessarily mean Apple intends to integrate superfast LTE capabilities into its next-generation iPhone. Verizon's LTE network operates on a different set of frequencies than the current 3G system, which means Apple's engineers would need to design, test and perfect a new antenna design for LTE's 700-MHz spectrum. Given Apple's past history of antenna problems, the company's engineers are sure to be very careful this time around.
"We believe the fifth-generation iPhone, possibly branded the iPhone 4S, will have a similar form factor to the iPhone 4 but a faster A5 chip, no LTE support, and possibly a larger four-inch display," Munster and Murphy wrote last month.
The Risk of Falling Behind
On the other hand, Apple may not wish to "risk falling behind" the latest 4G devices running Google 's Android platform, especially since Android has been classified more as a "fast follower" than a "tech leader," noted Lisa Pierce, an independent wireless analyst with the Strategic Network Group. "I can't imagine Apple would want to lose the [tech leader] moniker," she said.
If Apple doesn't introduce an LTE-compatible iPhone this year, the device maker could dampen any significant jump in sales of 4G handsets running Android "by talking about its upcoming 3G/4G phone," Pierce observed. "And provide customers with other reasons to remain with and use Apple [devices] -- for instance, the iCloud."
Apple recently said it continues to see Wi-Fi as a very important wireless service that helps AT&T -- but Wi-Fi doesn't help Verizon, Pierce noted. "In terms of competition, Verizon's moves are primarily designed to win AT&T customers because of AT&T's lag in focusing on LTE until recently," she said.
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