Verizon Wireless, the leader of LTE in the United States has launched its new XLTE high speed data service and its blazing fast! It gives us mobile device users high speed data transfers over a tower connecting us wirelessly. LTE was first released in the first quarter of 2011, giving us what they called at the time 4G. As you may know, LTE (Long Term Evolution) is marketed as 4G LTE. They have now upped their game and added XLTE which I’m calling (eXtreme Long Term Evolution). In this post I will give you some background history, and go in depth in talking about my personal experience as a long time unlimited data user on Verizon Wireless with LTE and XLTE! Keep in mind that I’m a power user, and note that they (offered unlimited data) to me, should represent what they say… unlimited data!
History Overview
Verizon Wireless, the guts and glory to the always connected CDMA mobile data users in the U.S. like me, we enjoy the connectivity of phone and data that they offer. Average speeds on 3G were between 300 Kbps and 1.1Mbps, but capped at 7.2 Mbps. Then they moved to LTE. Other US carriers starting with Sprint, offered their WiMAX 4G speeds of up to 30 Mbit/s and AT&T/ T Mobile adapted HSPA Plus that featured 21 Mbit/s download. Verizon Wireless had the upper hand for building out a brand new network called “LTE”. This same network in the U.S. today as we know in 2014 consists of LTE and now it’s bigger brother XLTE. As you see in this post, I stated (offered) and (unlimited data). What I mean about that is, starting October 2014 Verizon Wireless will start throttling the top 5% of unlimited data users that reach 4.7GB of data on any one given tower that is bogged down with high demand! The rules have changed, but the contract is still the same (but not the same if you feel me!). Verizon has activated service on its 1.7 and 2.2 GHz AWS spectrum in more than 250 markets and growing to date. I have been using 4g LTE since day one of its release.
LTE speeds VS. XLTE
Let’s talk about the meat and potatoes. Starting with the meat, Verizon Wireless LTE! I felt I was blessed with the 4G LTE speeds, being that I travel for a living and do not trust the hotel Internet! Security is my main goal so I rely on Verizon Wireless (unlimited data) and endless use to accomplish whatever task I had to do. Tower connection is and was the best option! On my trips of 4 plus years with unlimited data (3G and LTE) spanning from two weeks to 1 plus months at a time, I had 4G LTE at speeds of 1 to 5 Mbit/s tops download! Great for streaming YouTube, Netflix, Plex, and great for just surfing the internet.
Now the potatoes, XLTE a big step up from LTE. How about in Tampa, FL the place I live in now? From day one, I was getting 4 Mbit/s down and 3 up max with Verizon Wireless on July 2 2014. Now, with the XLTE service I have in my location of Tampa, FL, I’m getting around 57 Mbit/s down and 13 up on July 16 2014 with Verizon Wireless! I have added my results to this post courtesy of screenshots from speedtest.net, my Samsung Galaxy s4, and my Moto X Moto Maker edition on Verizon Wireless that works on XLTE! Note, not all devices are created equal so check with your device manufacturer or phone carrier to find out if they and your device support XLTE!
Conclusion
Having unlimited data on Verizon Wireless before October 2014 is spot on with the speed of XLTE download of 57 Mbit/s and 13 Mbit/s uploads in Tampa, FL. With my test I was throttled down after reaching over 4.75 GB to 10 Mbit/s but after a soft reboot I was back to high speeds. All you need to do is restart your phone and bam, back in action with high speeds! Feel free to tell us your experience and how you solved this problem that should not be a problem (unlimited data people)! That’s what they sold me so I’m going with that! Cheers all and I would love to hear your comments below!
Update: Verizon has stated they will Not be throttling unlimited data users after all!
September 28, 2014 was the date I started writing for Bane-Tech, and happy to have meet a great friend Joshua Bane! I enjoy technology and love to update and teach people on how-to get the most out of their tech! That's me to date but subject to change
Cheers all because I'm Rooting for you!!!
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