What process does Big Red use to decide where their high speed coverage should be ?

[Sloop]

I live 30 miles outside of Washington DC in Southern Maryland (County Calvert) and we have no access to either Fios or LTE services.  I have been trying to understand why Verizon lights up places with LTE  that already have Fios services and not concentrate their wireless resources in areas that aren't serviced by Fios OR how they choose LTE service areas in general.  I thought maybe there wasn't enough population to support LTE or Fios but a quick check of Martinsville WVA's (planned for LTE service in 2011) population is about 20,000 and County Calvert is 88,000.  So how are these decisions made, with a dart board ?  

[John_Getzke]

**I am speculating here**

My understanding is that Verizon is moving to markets that already have enough preexisting infrastructure to support the LTE upgrade.  They appear to be converting the easiest markets first and will tackle the harder ones last.  More hardware may be necessary in your area before they can make thier move.  I do not believe it is as simple as looking at the actual population of a market.  Verizon may have started in a FIOS market because FIOS can provide the infrastructure to support the backbone of the 4G traffic.

**End speculation**

The truth is that Verizon still has the ambitious plan to replace all 3G service with 4G by the end of 2013.  It wont be long before they can get to everyone.  You can check thier 4G coverage map website for more updates and details:

http://network4g.verizonwireless.com/#/coverage

[mdram4x4]

the guy responsible puts on a blindfold and throws a dart at a map of the US

whereever it lands is nte next LTE upgrade area

[budone]

I assume the most bang for the buck. So if placing LTE on a tower, they want the most eligible subscribers to be around it.