Verizon switches to UMTS-based LTE

For their next generation network, at least. Verizon will be eschewing EVDO revision C in favor of the GSM Association’s standard that is currently known as 3G LTE (Long Term Evolution). This move is most probably attributed to the fact that Vodafone will be implementing similar technology abroad, and hence the need for a common platform. So far, download rates of 100Mbps and upload rates of 50Mbps have been touted for every 20MHz of spectrum, but bear in mind these are just theoretical figures. Real life performance will definitely be a far cry from the numbers posted here. Take EVDO for example – I tend to get 500kbps on a good day, which is less than 25% of the theoretical 2.1Mbps advantage. This network is expected to go live in 3 to 4 years.