More LTE choices coming to Philadelphia (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile)

Tom Paine

Up until now, Verizon Wireless has been the only LTE choice for most mobile device users in the Philadelphia area (it says its currently covers more than 70% of the Philadelphia region). Metro PCS also has LTE available in parts of the area, but its speeds have reported to be limited by the narrow slice of spectrum it currently has available. Now additional options are on the way.

On Friday, AT&T announced that it has officially turn on 4G LTE in the Philly area . Many in the area had reported picking up LTE signals from AT&T for some time during the pre-launch phase. And Philadelphia is on Sprint's recently released list of 100 cities that will receive Sprint's 4G LTE service "in the coming months". (Word is that Sprint will begin lighting up Boston and Chicago this week.) T-Mobile is expected to launch its LTE during 2013; it should be enhanced in the Philly area by its swap/purchase of large blocks of AWS band spectrum from Verizon as part of Verizon's effort to smooth the path for regulatory approval of its deal with cable operators, which was received from the DOJ and FCC last month.

Clearwire hopes to begin moving away from WiMAX and launch its own LTE network by 2014, but despite a wholesale purchase commitment from major shareholder Sprint its ability to accomplish that is in question. Cricket's LTE expansion plans (it is currently live in one market) are also uncertain.

For AT&T and Sprint, as well as Verizon Wireless, the introduction of the LTE capable iPhone 5 is a key to the timing for launching or enhancing LTE. T-Mobile is not directly offering the iPhone 5, but does plan to offer a SIM card for unlocked iPhone 5s by October, although there will be limitations for a while in some areas due to network incompatibility issues.



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