Verizon to Roll out 4G in 2010

Verizon announced plans to roll out it’s 4G LTE network back in March. Since then, very little new details have been released, until now. Internal documents have been made available revealing details of various 4G data plans with download speeds upward of 5 – 12Mbps. Verizon seems to be on track with first releasing the data plans for tablets, USB data sticks and MiFi devices and then for smartphones 3 – 4 months later. We may see the release of Verizon’s 4G network this fall coincide with the unveiling of the elusive Android tablet. Last January’s CES led us to believe that we were going to see Android tablets right around the corner. Then the iPad came out and we were sure that tablet makers would answer back with Android. Almost 4 months after the release of the iPad we have yet to see an Adroid tablet hit the market. It looks like the Dell Streak on AT&T’s network might win the race but they will have a lot of catching up to do in the wake of the iPad. No word on pricing with Verizon’s 4G data plans but it will need to be competitive compared to AT&T’s $40 for 2 gig monthly plan. With Verizon transfer rates in the 5 – 12Mbps range, 2 gigs won’t go very far and I can’t see early adopters wanting to fork over more than $40 on top of their monthly cell phone charges. Also, with hotspot tethering available on Android OS 2.2, it will be interesting to see how cell phone data providers integrate their services.