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The untold story about the development of 4G in the U.S. is the story about spectrum. Spectrum capacity is essential for any wireless carrier and Clearwire has a strong footprint for 4G, whether they stick with WiMax or switch to LTE.
A little over a year ago, in November 2009, Sprint launched Sprint 4G in North Carolina. We're got 4G in metro Charlotte, including Huntersville, Monroe, Indian Trail, Mint Hill, Matthews, Gastonia, Mt. Holly, Harrisburg, Davidson and Cornelius.
In the Triad, we're in my hometown of Winston-Salem. We're also in Greensboro, High Point, Lexington, Clemmons, Thomasville, Trinity, Asheboro, Archdale, Jamestown, Kernersville, Reidsville, Burlington and Mebane.
In the Triangle, of course, we're in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary. But we're also in Carrboro, Hillsborough, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina (which is my favorite hyphenated place name in N.C. next to my hometown), Wake Forest, Garner, Knightdale and Morrisville.
Yesterday, our friends at Verizon announced plans to begin offering 4G in North Carolina, but their coverage will be limited at first. They will cover metro Charlotte, plus RDU -- the Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
We offer the country's largest selection of 4G capable devices -- we have 11 currently for sale -- including two phones: the HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G. Verizon, for its part, is following the same path we did in 2008 when we began our formal 4G rollout. (They will only sell modems at first, not phones. The phones will come "later in 2011" we're told.)
So if you live Charlotte, or you work at RDU, Verizon is now giving you a new 4G choice in North Carolina. But if you want a 4G phone and access to 4G coverage in the places where most North Carolinians live and work, Sprint remains a better choice.
I also think the pricing decision Verizon made is worth noting. They will sell you a 5MB a month plan for $50, which sounds great, except most 4G users consume more data than that. Our partners at Clearwire point out that their average customer uses 7MB a month. 7MB a month from Verizon will cost you $70 a month.
Verizon is offering a 10MB a month plan for $80.
At Sprint, we offer a 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Plan for $60 per month. The key difference -- it's UNLIMITED 4G use and 5 GB of 3G use each month.
We also offer a 4G Mobile Broadband Plan for $50 per month which includes unlimited 4G use.
While it's clear Verizon has a huge marketing budget to throw at their 4G offering, they will have to expand their network and device portfolio, and match our pricing offer to compete with us in North Carolina.
Meanwhile, people of the Triad and Triangle, if you're a Verizon customer, head to Charlotte for a Panthers game or drive to RDU for a flight if you want to use 4G. Or switch to Sprint.
It's official. Sprint has begun offering Sprint 4G in Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia.
We announced it with a midnight news release a few minutes ago. We also launched Sprint 4G in Los Angeles, South Florida (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach), Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Plus, we announced that we will begin offering Sprint 4G in San Francisco on Dec. 28.
Locally you can get a Sprint 4G signal as far south as Ft. Belvoir & Newington, as far east as Annapolis, as far west as Manassas & Leesburg, and as far north as Germantown & Columbia. Sprint 4G is found in all parts of D.C., including neighborhoods like Georgetown, Anacostia, Logan Circle, Dupont, Adams-Morgan, Southwest, Downtown, Capitol Hill, Cleveland Park, Brookland, Petworth and Columbia Heights.
Areas inside the Beltway (like Annandale, Alexandria, Arlington, Shirlington, Falls Church and Bethesda and Silver Spring are covered) but so are communities outside the Beltway (like Reston, Herndon, Lanham, Gaithersburg, Tysons Corner, National Harbor and Largo.)
Over the coming months, you will see more areas covered as new 4G cell sites come on line in the metro area.
For coverage maps visit Sprint.com. You may also want to visit Sprint.com/4G for more details about our offering.
