AT&T promises LTE in New York City 'very soon'
updated 05:15 pm EDT, Fri November 4, 2011
Boston, D.C., Athens, Ga., and Baltimore as well
AT&T has revealed that it will be bringing LTE data services to New York City "very soon." AT&T's Senior Vice President of communications, Larry Solomon, made the announcement at Mashable's Media Summit taking place in the area. Four additional cities, Boston, Washington DC, Athens, and Baltimore, will also be getting LTE.
LTE initially promises data download speeds of 5-12Mbps, about ten times faster than AT&T's existing 3G network. AT&T currently offers LTE in five cities Dallas-Forth Worth, San Antonio, Houston, Atlanta and Chicago. All told, the carrier hopes to have the service available in 15 metro areas with a total population of 70 million by year's end.
AT&T is still behind Verizon in the race to deploy LTE-based 4G services. That carrier plans to have coverage in 178 markets by mid-November. New York City will close the gap considerably by covering what's often considered the largest population base in the US.
AT&T will nonetheless be fast in getting its first LTE smartphones. These include the HTC Vivid, its first phone with a 720p screen, and the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. Both are due on Sunday. [via Mashable]
HTC Vivid
Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket
