Is 4G worth the price? I say no...

[dezymond]

The coverage will be nowhere near as good as 3g. I'm sure people will switch over to 4g once they find out the price and the coverage expands over the next 2-3 years. 4g is only in major markets now(at least to my knowledge), not enough to really warrant a switch from the general public yet.

LOL...good point...It's only in 38 cities although VZW claims that will actually cover about 1/3 the users (overall marker of 100M) and, hmmm, poll says @ 30% will upgrade! Although, I suspect the concentration of smartphones is a little higher in major cities.

Didn't know Verizon was covering 4g so well that quickly. Last I heard, obviously, was covering only major cities.

I personally won't be upgrading yet and not just cause I renewed not too long ago. I am in a city that would get 4g coverage, but I don't find it the "leap" yet. I'm sure 4g is going to be great, but I'm going to wait til I hear more about the speeds and all that before seriously considering upgrading. By the time my upgrade comes around again the coverage will be much better and hopefully out of all this 4g device craze, a company will separate themselves as "the top brand"

 

[kodiak799]

Didn't know Verizon was covering 4g so well that quickly. Last I heard, obviously, was covering only major cities.

Their numbers, not mine (think I saw similar from AT&T). It seems surprising, but not when you consider population density of larger cities. Roughly 30% of America lives in those 38 cities - 10M in NY, 6M in Chicago, 8M in LA...

LTE will also be available in, I think, 100 major airports to start.

 

[dezymond]

Didn't know Verizon was covering 4g so well that quickly. Last I heard, obviously, was covering only major cities.

Their numbers, not mine (think I saw similar from AT&T). It seems surprising, but not when you consider population density of larger cities. Roughly 30% of America lives in those 38 cities - 10M in NY, 6M in Chicago, 8M in LA...

LTE will also be available in, I think, 100 major airports to start.

All i know is I am not upgrading to 4g. New technology, I'll give it some time to grow. The new devices coming out are great, but I think everyone is pushing their products in a hurry and try to get their "foot through the door".

I'll switch in maybe a year or two, see how I feel about upgrading my 3g device, but I'm sure even then better 3g devices will be out.

And the pricing on LTE is still a mystery.

 

[elvis_marmaduke]

If by 'give it some time to grow' you mean 'give it some time to get cheaper' then I'm with you! Lol

Sent from my Droid

 

[dezymond]

If by 'give it some time to grow' you mean 'give it some time to get cheaper' then I'm with you! Lol

Sent from my Droid

lol, my decision to not upgrade is not based on price. I don't even know the pricing plans of 4g, they could be a great deal for all i know. I did estimate in an earlier post, of how I would personally price it, but I'm not Verizon

I just feel the coverage isn't good enough yet. I plan on traveling alot this year and the places I plan on going might not be covered, however I know for a fact 3g is covered.

New tech, give it time to grow. That's what I always believed in.

 

[Martin030908]

4g won't even be in my area til at least 2012 so I'm not really concerned with pricing. And if it is more expensive.. I'll probably pass. 3G handles everything I use my phone for without issue... YRMV

 

[hookbill]

lol, my decision to not upgrade is not based on price. I don't even know the pricing plans of 4g, they could be a great deal for all i know. I did estimate in an earlier post, of how I would personally price it, but I'm not Verizon

I just feel the coverage isn't good enough yet. I plan on traveling alot this year and the places I plan on going might not be covered, however I know for a fact 3g is covered.

New tech, give it time to grow. That's what I always believed in.

I'm not changing phones until my new every two rolls around, I'll be one of the last to get it, and then I'll look at 4G phones. That won't be for another 15 months.

 

[elvis_marmaduke]

$50 for 5gigs $80 for 10 and they estimate the avg person that uses their phone a bit will use 7.6 or so gigs (which was actually right around what I clocked in @ using their calculator).

Persoanlly I'm not worried about my areas coverage cuz I live in san jose so we're like ALWAYS covered hehe

Sent from my Droid

 

[kodiak799]

$50 for 5gigs $80 for 10

Those are prices for mobile broadband and they are the same for LTE as they have been for 3G. If they were going to gouge, why not gouge the mobile broadband segment where it's less price-sensitive corporate accounts, mostly?

 

[garrett]

I say switch carriers, especially if you are not in one of these 4G markets because if you get a 4G phone you are going to be paying for the service. Also neither of the carriers are even close to the actual 4G spec...Not sprint, not T-Mobile, Not ATT, and neither will Verizon.

Will T-Mobile be raising their prices with this new "4G" era as well? If not i say go with them. That's who i will be going with when i get back from my deployment. At least i know which carrier i wont be with.

the problem with T-Mobile is that their coverage is spotty at best. Its really sad that MetroPCS has more coverage then t-mobile.

 

[elvis_marmaduke]

As much as I don't look like the 4g prices... I REALLY want a bionic so i don't know if i'll have a choice hahaha

 

[gambit07]

Sorry to come off a bit harsh on the last statement. Nothing personal. It that case (2% more) it would be uncalled for.

I am seriously considering getting a tablet that is not tied to a carrier and keep my d1 for like 3 years. Its not a matter of having a smart phone though, it's a matter of them gouging us more for a service that is only slightly better and will not even be offered in all areas. I can well afford the new service, but there needs to be some point when the increases stop. By 2025 we will be paying $500/mo for the Droid 32 or something.

:rofl3: that would be a bit steep but at some point market elasticity will come into place. Again as someone else point out this is 'new' tech and therefore overly inflated (remember how expense Plasma and other HD TVs were just a few years ago, now they are dirt cheap and even the HIGHEND ones are less than the 'basic' models from then). I'm considering similar to you though, getting a wi-fi tablet for all my 'data' needs and then just a basic phone for calls. But we'll see what comes down the pipe.

The problem is will there always be wi-fi only tablets? Smartphones (back in the winmo days) used to offer that but almost no carriers still do (I think you can pull some strings with T-Mo) because they realized how big a cash cow it is. I understand that some people need 3g as some people will need 4g but that does not mean EVERYONE needs it. Some people are content with wi-fi. The posts stating you shouldn't use a smartphone if you don't have a data plan are idiotic and can be proven idiotic due to the fact that you can use an android tablet with WI-FI ONLY (for now). Android is certainly capable of being run without a data plan even if it's not optimal.

People complained a lot when VZW required mandatory data plans and then they quieted down, the same could most definitely happen with tablets or any other devices we humans think up that are coming down the line. Anyway it's the carriers choice what they offer, but they are limiting our choices when they use mandates like that and it is clearly used to get more money from us. Just look at the obscene prices for texting packages. Of course it's also consumers fault because so many people unintentionally used data and got charged per MB for it and complained, thus giving the carriers an excuse to implement mandatory data.

 

[npro1464]

Yet another reason to go to Sprint. Even with $10 + on your bill for 4g, it still is cheaper and offers you more.

 

[aaf709]

I'll gladly pay for higher speeds. Would be nice not to but ...... : )

Same here. Of course that may change when I'm ready go get a new phone. Right now I'm paying way less than I did with my Voyager.

 

[kodiak799]

Don't know....I kind of figured VZW could just pop out the sim if you don't want to pay for LTE but want the phone.