Alright guys,
First off I wanted to say that this is my first post here, and I in no way mean to come off as ranting or trolling, but to be honest I had to create an account to express my dissatisfaction with LTE growth plans as they currently stand. Why in god's name is there no plan to bring 4G coverage to Austin,Texas? Being a very technologically forward city/major hub of growth in semiconductor/cellular technologies I can just see absolutely no reason why Verizon has no immediate plans to bring LTE here...
Adding insult to injury, the next two cities they plan to incorporate in Texas are Bryan-College Station and Galveston... If anyone reading this has ever been to Texas they would understand why this is a complete joke, since not only population wise, but market-wise it makes absolutely no sense...
Can somebody, anybody, please shed some light on why Verizon is making this terrible decision? It is literally the only thing stopping me from switching carriers.
Appreciate any opinions,
Zilkerparke
Apparently the airport is good enough for the coverage which explains the clumping in Southeast Austin, but what about the hundreds of thousands of University students and business people located in central/downtown?
Look it will come over time. Austin has enough high-tech businesses including semi-conductors that there is a decent amount of fiber/fibre optics in the ground from AT&T, Verizon, and the local cable company. VZW requires their suppliers to supply a 1GbE, GigE, 1Gbps, or GigabitEthernet-X circuit from their MSC (Mobile Switching Center) to their cell sites in a metro area for LTE. The MSC also has to be upgraded to 10G back-haul onto the nation-wide Verizon Business/Verizon IP backbone. It's in San Antonio and Dallas is it not!? Just wait, it will be there over time...
Well put, willzzz. From what I have been readin, Verizon hopes to have LTE coverage by 2013, making it one of the fastest new technology implementations/rollouts that I have ever seen.
I mean no offense, and Austin is certainly a city with a large enough, techie enough population to warrant LTE, but I'm sure most people feel that their city deserves LTE right now. It's coming to everyone, though, and it's coming quickly.
No, this is ridiculous - I agree with the original post. This is one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country with a very high end tech community/university and we're not part of the next wave? Can someone seriously defend the other cities coming first like Fargo ND, Ogden UT, Bakersfield CA, Lima OH, Las Cruces NM, etc. (I could go on). Even El Paso makes little sense having this service before Austin. Seriously, give me a break...
Dude.... The rollout is what it is and whining won't change that. Who cares who has (supposedly) 'the fastest growing metro population' with whatever bells and whistles you can think of? You'll get it when you get it, and I can't understand how people can be so impatient. This is especially confusing given the breakneck speed with which the rollout is taking place. Do people really feel immediately entitled to something that has never existed before but which is coming their way eventually? Now that is ridiculous!
Agreed with the OP. It makes no sense to not have this technology hub not to be one of the first communities to receive LTE. From all reports we are one of the most wired cities in the nation. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Austin is an Apple iPhone hotbed and not a Verizon core center.
I had to register to make a comment what a horrible process. Made me go through two registrations. Then once I was done I could not get back to this page without going back to google to find this page again. I live in Austin and I to am very frustrated that Verizon is not putting 4g here. Do they not understand that a ton of tech people come here every year for SXSW. Do they not understand how much bad tech press they are going to get next April when everybody gets here and can't get 4g. I bet somebody at Verizon wakes up before then and at least gets down town with 4g. I heard a rumor the other day they are testing it downtown Austin. Verizon is not stupid enough to not have 4g by april it will make them look real bad.
It is pretty strange - considering that I see Temple/Killeen , Bryan/College Station, Beaumont/Port Arthur, El Paso, on the list for 2011 and current coverage in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
But there are a couple of possible reasons - highways and airports are obvious firsts for biz reasons - in some cases, a small town can be serviced simply because VZW needs to cover a highway. A larger town would require a lot more investment than would be provided by highway and airport coverage. So, it may look unfair at first blush - tiny towns near highways or military bases.
Second, politics and regulations. Each state has two senators and they have connections to the FCC. Therefore small states get disproportionate investment in infrastructure. This has been true for ages. There are cases on both sides of the argument for subsidies for low density, farming, rural, etc. Socially, it can be argued that it does help connect us as a country. There are regulations regarding purchase but not using public airwaves based on locality.
So medium-sized places are getting squeezed out right now. In any case, 4G has a lot of growth pains right now - if you don't know what you are doing you can use your monthly data limit in less than an hour. Speed is not everything.
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