Verizon, T-Mobile adding more 4G cities

Computerworld - Verizon Wireless plans to turn on its 4G LTE network in 14 more U.S. cities tomorrow, for a total of 179 markets.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile USA separately announced on Wednesday that it has recently added 11 cities to its 4G HSPA+42 network, for a total of 163 markets.

The list of cities with Verizon 4G LTE service includes: Little Rock, Ark.; Savannah, Ga.; Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, Iowa; Lexington, Ky; Starkville, Miss.; Kansas City and Springfield/Branson, Mo.; Lincoln, Neb.; Orange County, N.Y.; Greater Providence, R.I.; Rapid City, S.D.; Roanoke, Va.; and Appleton/Oshkosh, Wisc.

On the same day, Verizon is making major 4G LTE expansions in Louisville, Ky.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. And Pittsburgh, Pa.

Verizon's LTE rollout began in late 2010 and now reaches 186 million Americans with average downlink speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps, Verizon said.

The new T-Mobile HSPA+42 markets are: Bend, Medford and Corvallis, Ore.; Benton Harbor, Mich.; Bloomington, Champaign-Urbana and Springfield, Ill.; Columbus, Ga.; Hagerstown, Md.; Montgomery, Ala.; and Yuba City, Calif.

Average download speeds on HSPA+42 are "approaching" 8Mbps, T-Mobile said.

AT&T said this week it will add six more LTE cities on Sunday for a total of 15 U.S. cities.

Sprint is already operating a 4G network based on WiMax, and has plans to start an LTE network rollout in mid-2012.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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