Verizon to expand Detroit’s 4G network
February 15, 2011 – 8:07 pmVerizon will expand its fourth-generation wireless network throughout Metro Detroit on Thursday, making it easier for consumers to surf the Web, watch television and download large files on their laptops and, eventually, cell phones.
The nation’s largest carrier is the third company to bring 4G here. In December, Verizon launched faster next-generation service in portions of north Oakland and Macomb counties, but not Detroit because of an interference issue with a Canadian television station that has since been resolved.
Advertisement
With Verizon’s new 4G network, Metro Detroit customers from Wyandotte to Drayton Plains and St. Clair Shores to Walled Lake will reach average speeds up to 10 times faster than its standard 3G network. The company estimates the Metro Detroit expansion will cover more than 80 percent of the region’s population.
“Metro Detroit: Welcome to the future,” John Granby, Verizon’s president for Michigan, said in a statement.
Right now, the only way for customers to access Verizon’s 4G network is by using wireless data cards that plug into laptops and connect to the Internet. Plans range from $50 to $80 a month.
Verizon, which recently won the right to offer service on the iPhone, won’t begin selling 4G phones until later this year. It has announced four smartphones, including the Droid Bionic 4G, that will be available by the middle of the year. The network also will be accessible from 4G tablets.
Until then, Verizon will have a harder time competing with carriers like MetroPCS and T-Mobile that offer 4G phones.
MetroPCS, a prepaid carrier, was the first to bring 4G to Detroit last October. T-Mobile followed with its own 4G network here in November.
Tags: 4g Network, Network