4G Rollout

[jimmyray3]

Why does Verizon refuse to give some sort of rollout schedule to help customers make better educated decisions on equipment on their network? I live a hour outside of Richmond, VA. 4g extended service is 30 mins out, but Verizon refuses to tell me when and if they will put 4g in Tappahannock. I mean a little support from Verizon would be nice at some point during a 15 year relationship. 

[Ann154]

They did have a list of cities that they announce at the beginning of last year.  If they decide to do that again, I don't know.  The news releases are usually a few weeks out from the official "light up" day for new 4G LTE coverage locations.  Also the final build-out is planned for the end of 2013.

[Heathie]

There are several reasons that Verizon Wireless does not release LTE rollout information more than a month ahead of time. The most obvious reason is to protect their reputation for reliability. If they tell you, you will have 4G LTE coverage in 2 weeks, and the vendor that supplies the LTE equipment they must install on the local cell towers has an issue getting a part to Verizon, or if the part(s) get delayed or lost in shipping, that would look bad on Verizon's part for announcing new coverage by a certain date, and it not happening. Another possibility; Verizon does not, and can not supply all their own bandwidth (backbone internet connection) to each and every cell tower. In many locations, they rely on local exchange carriers, sometimes things get delayed. In order to offer the extremely fast speeds of 4G LTE, the cell tower must also have a VERY fast internet connection. If the local exchange provider, or other internet options in a certain area get delayed, that is beyond Verizon's control. That is why we don't hear of rollouts more than a month in advance. Usually, if a city is stated to have 4G LTE on a particular date, they already have everything set up in that particular area, and are just tweeking and testing the network until the official launch date. Memphis and Jonesboro both had 4G LTE coverage usable on my phone more than a week prior to the official launch dates.

This is all to protect Verizon's reputation as a dependable, reliable network.

I know, I'd rather see 4G on my phone before hearing anything, than to expect something and it not happen.