Verizon announces faster XLTE spectrum for current subscribers (AT NO EXTRA COST TOO!)

Source: Verizon Wireless

Verizon on Monday officially announced XLTE, its marketing term for its 4G LTE network that has more capacity, allowing for subscribers to achieve much faster data speeds. The added capacity comes from its newly activated 2100MHz frequency bands, part of the new AWS deployment, which it started to roll out in October. Now for anyone who knows, this is not 5G or LTE-Advanced. Verizon is just adding another spectrum of wave length for customers to use to reduce "congestion". So the AWS (XLTE) band is faster but the older 4G LTE wave length should now be faster for older phone users as there will be less people on that spectrum.



Verizon said that XLTE is available in “more than half” of its 4G LTE markets as of today and said that more than 35 percent of existing devices already in the hands of consumers will automatically switch between its 700MHz LTE spectrum and the newly activated AWS spectrum when needed. Devices with built-in support include all of Verizon’s latest DROID-branded handsets, the HTC One (M8), the LG G2, the Lumia Icon, the Galaxy S5, the Galaxy S4, the Galaxy Note 3, the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 5c and plenty more.  For a full list of cities and devices, see below:

Alabama

Birmingham
Decatur
Florence
Mobile
Montgomery
Tuscaloosa

Arizona

Flagstaff
Phoenix
Prescott
Tucson

Arkansas

El Dorado-Magnolia
Fayetteville-Springdale
Fort Smith
Hot Spring
Jonesboro
Little Rock
Russellville

California

Bakersfield
Chico-Oroville
Fresno
Los Angeles
Merced
Modesto
Redding
Sacramento
San Diego
San Francisco – Oakland – San Jose
San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Stockton
Visalia-Porterville
Yuba City-Marysville

Colorado

Colorado Springs
Denver
Fort Collins
Greeley
Pueblo

Connecticut

Greater Fairfield and New Haven
Hartford
New London County

Delaware

Dover
Fort Myers
Fort Pierce-Vero Beach

District of Columbia
Washington DC

Florida

Beach
Gainesville
Lakeland-Winter Haven
Melbourne-Titusville
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale
Orlando
Pensacola
Sarasota-Bradenton
Tallahassee
Tampa-St. Petersburg
West Palm Beach

Georgia

Athens

Atlanta
Augusta
Columbus

Hawaii

Honolulu
Kahului-Wailuku

Illinois

Bloomington
Carbondale
Champaign-Urbana
Chicago
Danville
Decatur-Effingham
Kankakee
La Salle-Peru-Ottawa
Mattoon
Peoria
Rockford
Springfield

Indiana

Anderson
Bloomington-Bedford
Columbus
Elkhart
Evansville
Indianapolis
Kokomo-Logansport
Lafayette
Marion
Richmond
South Bend-Mishawaka
Terre Haute
Vincennes-Washington

Iowa

Cedar Rapids
Des Moines
Sioux City
Blackfoot
Burley
Pocatello

Kansas

Dodge City
Garden City
Hays
Manhattan-Junction City
McPherson
Salina
Topeka
Wichita

Kentucky

Lexington
Louisville
Louisiana
Baton Rouge
Lake Charles
Monroe
New Orleans
Shreveport

Maryland

Baltimore
Salisbury

Massachusetts

Boston
Hyannis-Mid-Cape
Pittsfield
Springfield
Worcester-Fitchburg

Michigan

Benton Harbor
Detroit
Flint
Grand Rapids
Houghton
Lansing

Minnesota

Bemidji
Brainerd
Duluth
Fergus Falls-Alexandria
Minneapolis-St. Paul
Rochester
St. Cloud

Missouri

Jefferson City
Kansas City
St. Joseph

Montana

Billings

Nebraska

Grand Island-Kearney
Lincoln
North Platte
Omaha
Scottsbluff

Nevada

Las Vegas
Reno

New Hampshire

Manchester-Nashua

New Jersey

Atlantic City

New Mexico

Albuquerque
Santa Fe

New York

Albany
Binghamton
Buffalo
Elmira-Corning-Hornell
Ithaca
New York
Rochester
Syracuse
Utica

North Carolina

Asheville
Charlotte-Gastonia
Fayetteville-Lumberton
Raleigh-Durham
Wilmington

North Dakota

Bismarck
Dickinson
Fargo
Grand Forks
Minot
Williston

Ohio

Canton
Cincinnati
Cleveland-Akron
Columbus
Dayton-Springfield
Findlay-Tiffin
Lima
Mansfield
Marion
Portsmouth
Toledo

Oklahoma

Bartlesville
Lawton
Liberal
Oklahoma City
Tulsa

Oregon

Eugene-Springfield
Portland
Salem-Albany-Corvallis

Pennsylvania

Allentown-Bethlehem
Altoona
Erie
Harrisburg

Indiana

Lancaster
Pittsburgh
Reading
Scranton-Wilkes Barre
Shamokin
Sharon
State College
Stroudsburg
Williamsport
York

Rhode Island

Greater Providence

South Carolina

Charleston
Columbia
Florence
Greenville-Spartanburg
Greenwood
Myrtle Beach

South Dakota

Aberdeen
Rapid City
Sioux Falls

Tennessee

Chattanooga
Cleveland
Cookeville
Dyersburg
Jackson
Knoxville
Memphis
Nashville

Texas

Amarillo
Austin
Beaumont-Port Arthur
Bryan-College Station
Corpus Christi
Dallas-Ft. Worth
Houston
Laredo
Longview-Marshall
Paris
San Antonio
Sherman-Denison
Temple-Killeen
Tyler
Waco
Wichita Falls

Utah

Logan
Provo
Salt Lake City-Ogden

Virginia

Charlottesville
Fredericksburg
Greater Hampton Roads
Harrisonburg
Richmond
Roanoke
Winchester

Washington

Longview
Olympia
Seattle-Tacoma
Spokane

Wisconsin

Appleton-Oshkosh
Eau Claire
Fond du Lac
Green Bay

Devices:

Phones (Also, this list may not include every single device that is compatible with Verizon XLTE. This is only the initial list that we have been given)

Moto X
DROID ULTRA
DROID MAXX
DROID MINI
HTC One (M8)
HTC One Max
LG G2
LG Lucid 3
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Samsung Galaxy Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
Samsung ATIV SE
Lumia Icon
Blackberry Q10
Blackberry Z30
iPhone 5C
iPhone 5S

Tablets

iPad Air
iPad Mini Retina
LG G Pad
Samsung Note 10.1
Samsung Galaxy Note Pro

Jetpacks and Modems

UML295 USB Modem
Jetpack MHS291L
Jetpack Mifi5510L

The network is already up and running and, if you have one of the aforementioned devices, you should notice some speed boosts in areas that might have typically been slower due to increased traffic. Verizon isn’t charging customers additional fees to use the network, but you can be sure it’s going to start advertising this as a distinguishing factor over its competitors.  From my testing they really have a hit on their hands. In my area the older speeds were about 3mbps (megabytes per second) downloading and almost 1mbps uploading which is sad because that is about the speed of 3G. With this new wavelength, I was able to reach 45mbps down and 15 mbps up. Even the old wave length is faster now at 14mbps down and 5 mbps up.  This means your searches, posting of pictures, etc are going to be much much faster.

I hate to say it but with this upgrade, if Verizon could only lower everyone's monthly bill by $20 a month, they are on their way to being more a a favorite to me personally than T-Mobile.

Source: Verizon Wireless;