| You are wrong! It still requires putting up new equipment in towers, regardless of whether you are a GSM or CDMA provider. It's not like AT&T can flip a switch and a tower suddenly becomes LTE.
The cost & time for verizon to deploy LTE is roughly on par with AT&T deploying LTE... actually, since Verizon already owns/leases more tower space than AT&T (and is about to acquire alltel), it'll probably be cheaper/faster for Verizon to deploy LTE!
Furthermore, the difference in costs for the handsets will also be minimal. Since much of this service will be in spectrum outside of the normal 800AB/PCS bands you need very complex or multiple radios in both GSM and CDMA handsets! Much like UMTS/HSDPA operates now. Verizon has already started offering dual mode GSM/CDMA handsets.
There will be no "growing pains" here. Verizon will just offer dual mode LTE/EVDO radios in their phones and roll out the LTE network as a normal extension of their current EVDO network (starting from major markets and moving out just like they did with EVDO). This is no different than AT&T offering a GSM/HSDPA/LTE handset. The consumer will never notice the difference in either case!
As for the current state of comparison, it's not even remotely close! Anyone that tells you otherwise has not actually used the products extensively. I had an AT&T smartphone for a while and a verizon data card (built into my laptop) while traveling the country last year. Verizon had 3G data service in areas where AT&T couldn't even get voice service, much less edge or 3G! The map posted above is no lie. AT&T data really is a complete joke in my experience. Don't expect to get reliable AT&T 3G data anywhere that is 5 minutes outside of a major metro area! Edge coverage is a bit better, but still doesn't come close to verizon evdo, much less 1xrtt coverage!
For a short part of my travels, I even tried a 3G option globetrotter data card (like $50 off e-bay) with my AT&T sim. In those tests the verizon data was ALWAYS faster than the 3G AT&T data by a significant margin.
I've actually used both data networks extensively for work around the US, in real-world conditions. The gulf between verizon data and AT&T data is so absurdly vast that I cannot imagine anyone favorably comparing both. There is no doubt in my mind that if you want data in the USA, the only real option is Verizon CDMA... (or Sprint which supposedly has really good data roaming agreements with verizon) |
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