October » Vol. XXIII, No. 17
Have you heard the news? Verizon’s 4G network has been rated as the fastest by PC Magazine. However, that’s just part of the story.
A few years ago, 3G was all the rage. Sprint and Verizon offered unlimited data plans (AT&T was late to the party), trying to entice others into this new method of surfing the web using USB cards that plugged directly into a laptop. Shortly thereafter, they began bundling unlimited 3G coverage with smart phones as well.
With the introduction of 4G, both Sprint & Verizon killed off the unlimited plan for their data cards and mobile hotspots, capping them at 5 Gigabytes (GB) a month. Not long afterwards, Verizon and AT&T (who had finally caught up) capped smart phone data usage at 5 GB per month, leaving Sprint as the only 4G smart phone carrier with an unlimited data plan.
Despite 3G coverage which has been expanded though much of the country, 4G coverage is only available in limited markets.
However, Verizon, Sprint and AT&T’s 4G coverage should be roughly equivalent to their current 3G footprint in about two years.
What about T-Mobile you ask? Although they now offer 3G service, T-Mobile does not have a true 4G network. Think smoke and mirrors…
Michael W. Kay, CPCU, AIC
A few years ago, 3G was all the rage. Sprint and Verizon offered unlimited data plans (AT&T was late to the party), trying to entice others into this new method of surfing the web using USB cards that plugged directly into a laptop. Shortly thereafter, they began bundling unlimited 3G coverage with smart phones as well.
With the introduction of 4G, both Sprint & Verizon killed off the unlimited plan for their data cards and mobile hotspots, capping them at 5 Gigabytes (GB) a month. Not long afterwards, Verizon and AT&T (who had finally caught up) capped smart phone data usage at 5 GB per month, leaving Sprint as the only 4G smart phone carrier with an unlimited data plan.
Despite 3G coverage which has been expanded though much of the country, 4G coverage is only available in limited markets.
However, Verizon, Sprint and AT&T’s 4G coverage should be roughly equivalent to their current 3G footprint in about two years.
What about T-Mobile you ask? Although they now offer 3G service, T-Mobile does not have a true 4G network. Think smoke and mirrors…
Michael W. Kay, CPCU, AIC
