Verizon 4G Expanding To New Markets In July [Huntsville, Raleigh-Durham and Knoxville Getting 4G Next Month, Get Ready To Rock Your 4G LTE Phones]

Posted on TFTS by Kevin Schram on Thursday, 23. June 2011 under: Mobile/Cell Phones

Sprint’s WiMAX 4G network may have been first in the United States, but everybody has been taken by surprise at how quickly Verizon’s 4G LTE network is expanding across the United States. According to press releases issued by the company this week, eight new markets will be getting 4G LTE on July 21^st, with two more markets getting increased coverage on that date as well.

These are the cities getting 4G LTE for the first time from Verizon:

Huntsville, Alabama
Augusta, Georgia
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Springfield, Massachusetts
Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina
Greenboro/Winston, North Carolina
Salem/High Point, North Carolina
Knoxville, Tennessee

The following markets will be getting expanded 4G coverage on July 21^st:

Los Angeles, California
San Diego, California

Verizon’s 4G is spreading so quickly, I imagine most Verizon customers are covered by 4G. Contrast this to the slow crawl expansion of Sprint’s WiMAX network, which is directly attributable to the cashflow problems that Sprint’s partner Clear is having.

Currently, Verizon offers three 4G phones, the HTC Thunderbolt, the Samsung Droid Charge and the LG Revolution. All of these phones will be a bit more thicker than the regular Android phones because of the extra 4G baseband chipset. That could bother you. If you also prefer the iPhone or Windows Phone 7 – only Android phones are being offered with 4G connectivity so far. Of course, there also are 4G USB and MiFi hotspots for your laptops, too.

Anybody live in these new markets? Planning to pick up a 4G phone or a USB dongle? Tell us about it in the comments section, and check out our review of the HTC Thunderbolt for more guidance.