The state of LTE in the US: How the carriers’ 4G networks stack up

Wireless carriers have expanded their 4G networks into new spectrum and implemented new technologies that squeeze more capacity, speed and range out of their existing towers.

While it might be easy to view LTE as simply a status marker -- either you’ve got it or you don’t -- the reality is that no two LTE networks are the same. Verizon is now able to stack tens of millions more LTE devices onto its networks without overloading them. And for the speed-obsessed out there, Verizon’s network has become the one to latch onto. Early tests clocked downlink connections of 80 Mbps, though the network is sure to slow down as it fills up with subscribers. T-Mobile has been boasting a lot about its 4G networks of late, and in truth it has a lot to brag about. The country’s smallest national carrier went from zero to nationwide LTE in just eight months, and in November it doubled the capacity of its network in at least 40 major cities. To be honest, AT&T’s days of making big 4G headlines are probably over. Ma Bell had a big run over the summer after several independent studies all crowned AT&T the 4G speed king, but since then it’s been forced to back down from those claims. AT&T simply lacks the big hunks of contiguous airwaves necessary to deploy the 40MHz behemoths that Verizon and T-Mobile are building. But that doesn’t mean AT&T lacks resources. It has spectrum in bands all over the map, and it’s using every megahertz it can.