Verizon 4G LTE: Two Datacards and a WiFi Hotspot Massively Reviewed

2011 is going to be a year dominated by fourth generation network everything—handsets, portable hotspots, datacards, and news of networks lighting up in each regional market. There’s a veritable soup of wireless network tech being billed as 4G, but far and away the most interesting suite of new network access technology is LTE—Long Term Evolution.  We got the chance to play around with a number of Verizon’s upcoming LTE enabled phones and preview the carrier’s two launch LTE datacards at CES. Since then, we’ve spent a considerable amount of time with Verizon’s 4G LTE out in the wild. We’ve split the reviews down the middle—our HTC Thunderbolt review is one piece, everything else LTE is in here, including the Pantech UML290, Verizon USB551L, and Samsung SCH-LC11 WiFi hotspot.

Read on for the full reviews.

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Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot is Available Now For Verizon Users

Verizon and Samsung today announced that the Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot is available for order today in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a 4G Mobile Broadband plan. The 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot will be available in stores on March 31.

Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot Key features:

• Share 4G LTE internet connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices at the same time
• 4G LTE – customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage areas
• Backward compatible with the Verizon Wireless 3G network
• Dimensions: 2.32”(H) x 3.54”(W) x 0.45”(D)

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(Updated: Video and Gallery) Apple's iPhone 4 Coming to Verizon Early Next Month, With Wireless Hotspot

Well, it's official - Verizon is getting the iPhone 4. The Apple/Verizon relationship developed over the last two years. The two companies began technical discussions starting in 2008 about bringing the iPhone to Verizon. The phone then spent a year in testing and design and starting early next month, the iPhone 4 will come to Verizon.

The Apple/Verizon relationship is formalized in a multi-year, non-exclusive agreement. However we have no additional details, including whether or not release schedules will be synchronized with AT&T.

At Verizon's press conference there's a lot of mutual respect sharing between the two companies. It looks like there's a desire to establish that these two companies want to work together and will continue to going forward. 

Existing VZW customers will be able to pre-order the iPhone 4 online on February 3rd, 2010. A week later, on February 10th, everyone will be able to order the Verizon iPhone 4 both online and in Verizon stores as well as at the Apple store (both online and at physical stores).

The phone will sell for $199.99 for a 16GB version, and $299.99 for the 32GB version. The Verizon iPhone 4 will feature wireless hotspot capabilities allowing you to connect up to 5 devices to it over WiFi. Verizon indicated that you wouldn't be able to use voice and data simultaneously, consistent with other CDMA devices on its network.

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More as we get it.

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