Verizon Wireless Opening Their Network, Going LTE for 4G
I got a couple of pieces of email asking me what my opinion was on Verizon opening their network to third party devices. My basic response? Welcome to the real world, Verizon. Of course, you being a CDMA carrier and all that, a open network really doesn’t mean squat beyond the fact you might be able to use a Sprint phone on Verizon in the near future. Oh sure, folks can design a device on a breadboard and bring it into Verizon for certification, but how many people are going to do that?
But now that Verizon Wireless has officially selected Long Term Evolution (LTE) for their 4G data network–with is a GSM-standard instead of a CDMA one–the other shoe has dropped. It’s clear that Vodafone, Verizon’s partner in Verizon Wireless, has finally got Verizon on board with going with a proper world standard for their network. Clearly it’s going to take some time for this network to deploy–they’re quoting 2008 for trials–so CDMA isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Hopefully they will learn from the mess Sprint is going through with iDEN and do a much cleaner cutover to LTE.
I can’t help but be a little skeptical here, but I’m hoping–perhaps against hope–that Verizon Wireless is seeing the light and starting to make amends for their past sins against innovation. What do you think?
