Verizon Wireless, my wireless provider of choice, was all over the news this week with 2 major announcements.
On Tuesday, they announced (via Slashdot) that they will be opening up their wireless network. Yes, this is the same company that cripples phones, punishes customers, and does all sorts of mean nasty things. I would imagine this is in response to Google’s 700 MHz plans. Some speculate it’s in response to Apple’s iPhone, which won’t even work on Verizon’s CDMA network as it’s a GSM phone and AT&T has an exclusive deal with Apple for quite some time.
What this opening of their network means is that any approved device will be allowed to use their network. They’re building a facility to test devices. Supposedly, they’re planning on making it easy for the small business and not just large companies like Motorola or LG.
Don’t get too excited just yet, though. They won’t be doing this until late 2008.
Yesterday, they announced (via CrunchGear) that they selected LTE, Long Term Evolution, as their 4G wireless broadband direction. They will begin testing this in late 2008 with possible rollout in 2009.
All in all, it was a good week for Verizon news. As a customer, I am now more comfortable remaining with them, even though my LG Chocolate is still crippled and I can’t afford their data plan anyway. Someday, maybe I’ll afford it.
0 Responses to “Verizon Wireless Opens Network, announces plans for 4G”