Verizon has fired up a new, beefier branding for its 4G LTE smartphone service. Dubbed XLTE, it takes advantage of the AWS spectrum to double the bandwidth in high-traffic locations. And here's the list of cities that get it first.
| Category | Features |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Birmingham, Decatur, Florence, Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa |
| Arizona | Flagstaff, Phoenix, Prescott, Tucson |
| Arkansas | El Dorado-Magnolia, Fayetteville-Springdale, Fort Smith, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Little Rock, Russellville |
| California | Bakersfield, Chico-Oroville, Fresno, Los Angeles, Merced, Modesto, Oakland, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Stockton, Visalia-Porterville, Yuba City-Marysville |
| Colorado | Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Pueblo |
| Connecticut | Greater Fairfield and New Haven, Hartford, New London County |
| Delaware | Dover, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce-Vero Beach |
| District of Columbia | Washington DC |
| Florida | Gainesville, Lakeland-Winter Haven, Melbourne-Titusville, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Pensacola, Sarasota-Bradenton, Tallahassee, Tampa-St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach |
| Georgia | Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus |
| Hawaii | Honolulu, Kahului-Wailuku |
| Illinois | Bloomington, Carbondale, Champaign-Urbana, Chicago, Danville, Decatur-Effingham, Kankakee, La Salle-Peru-Ottawa, Mattoon, Peoria, Rockford, Springfield |
| Indiana | Anderson, Bloomington-Bedford, Columbus, Elkhart, Evansville, Indianapolis, Kokomo-Logansport, Lafayette, Marion, Richmond, South Bend-Mishawaka, Terre Haute, Vincennes-Washington |
| Iowa | Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Sioux City, Blackfoot, Burley, Pocatello |
| Kansas | Dodge City, Garden City, Hays, Manhattan-Junction City, McPherson, Salina, Topeka, Wichita |
| Kentucky | Lexington, Louisville |
| Louisiana | Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans, Shreveport |
| Maryland | Baltimore, Salisbury |
| Massachusetts | Boston, Hyannis-Mid-Cape, Pittsfield, Springfield, Worcester-Fitchburg |
| Michigan | Benton Harbor, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Houghton, Lansing |
| Minnesota | Bemidji, Brainerd, Duluth, Fergus Falls-Alexandria, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Rochester, St. Cloud |
| Missouri | Jefferson City, Kansas City, St. Joseph |
| Montana | Billings |
| Nebraska | Grand Island-Kearney, Lincoln, North Platte, Omaha, Scottsbluff |
| Nevada | Las Vegas, Reno |
| New Hampshire | Manchester-Nashua |
| New Jersey | Atlantic City |
| New Mexico | Albuquerque, Santa Fe |
| New York | Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Elmira-Corning-Hornell, Ithaca, New York, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica |
| North Carolina | Asheville, Charlotte-Gastonia, Fayetteville-Lumberton, Raleigh-Durham, Wilmington |
| North Dakota | Bismarck, Dickinson, Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, Williston |
| Ohio | Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland-Akron, Columbus, Dayton-Springfield, Findlay-Tiffin, Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Portsmouth, Toledo |
| Oklahoma | Bartlesville, Lawton, Liberal, Oklahoma City, Tulsa |
| Oregon | Eugene-Springfield, Portland, Salem-Albany-Corvallis |
| Pennsylvania | Allentown-Bethlehem, Altoona, Erie, Harrisburg, Indiana, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Reading, Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Shamokin, Sharon, State College, Stroudsburg, Williamsport, York |
| Rhode Island | Greater Providence |
| South Carolina | Charleston, Columbia, Florence, Greenville-Spartanburg, Greenwood, Myrtle Beach |
| South Dakota | Aberdeen, Rapid City, Sioux Falls |
| Tennessee | Chattanooga, Cleveland, Cookeville, Dyersburg, Jackson, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville |
| Texas | Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, Laredo, Longview-Marshall, Paris, San Antonio, Sherman-Denison, Temple-Killeen, Tyler, Waco, Wichita Falls |
| Utah | Logan, Provo, Salt Lake City-Ogden |
| Virginia | Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Greater Hampton Roads, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Roanoke, Winchester |
| Washington | Longview, Olympia, Seattle-Tacoma, Spokane |
| Wisconsin | Appleton-Oshkosh, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Green Bay |
Source: Verizon [pdf]
Reader comments
Here are Verizon's initial XLTE cities
Reno, NV: 1.87 Mbps down, 6.69 up, 3 bars on my S4. Really pathetic, VZW.
The speeds are ridiculously great! I work in Hartford,CT and I was getting 48 mb/s down and 8 mb/s up!
I'm in between Rockford and Chicago, How far does this stuff actually reach?
St. Joseph, MO and not St. Louis? Really?
WOW that will be freaking awesome with your 2 gig plan LOL... You can use your phone for a day heavily then turn off your data so you don't go over your allotment... If you can't tell I left VZW when I lost my unlimited....
chico and not humboldt?? killin me
The only thing wrong with this list are the last three cities in Iowa. Problem is, those aren't cities in Iowa, those are cities in Idaho. I think they forgot to put in a space for Idaho.
btw, I confirmed it with Verizon. Just thought I'd mention that before anyone blasts me with a comment like, "they have the same city name in multiple states". :)
"Los Angeles" here, with a Droid Maxx. Just tested and got 12 down. Sadly, when the telcos say "Los Angeles" they only mean the southern half and don't include the San Fernando Valley, even though 2/3 of the city's population lives here.
Is there a testing app that shows which band of LTE you're on? Will the XLTE show as just LTE or something different?
Since the Droid RAZR Maxx HD was only made for 1 year and my town shows up on the list to receive XLTE, IS MY PHONE ABLE to receive XLTE? From a RAZR Maxx HD!!
Posted via Android Central App
no, but you should see a speed boost considering a lot of people with newer phones (iPhone 5S, 5C, GS5, GS5, G2, etc.) are not using the same towers anymore therefore you have more bandwidth to yourself.
Posted via Android Central App
I'm seeing 4.4.2 OTA coming down for the RAZR Maxx HDs. Around 90dBm on both the new MAXX and the Razr Maxx HD.
Well I am in downtown Oklahoma City and I am getting under ten MG dl speeds like normal... Fml
Posted via my DROID MAXX
Really great list. Recently switched to T-mobile from Sprint and had always hated the Sprint lists: alphabetical by city. This is a much better list. A person can look at their state and see which cities are impacted. Good job Big Red!
Fut yeh! I'm actually in a test market for something.
I'm glad Roanoke Virginia is on the list. Speeds on Verizon's LTE network went from 20/10 to 3/1. That is one of the many reasons I switched to AT&T. I can use a Nexus or OnePlus One now. But I digress, data speeds on AT&T are ridiculous. 30-45 down and 10-25 up.
Industry leader Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and relative new comer http://j.mp/industry-leader-VZ
Better roll out than spark. Who's behind in the LTE race again?
Posted via Android Central App
The last three cities listed under Iowa are actually in Idaho.
Bloomington IN ( rural area) seeing 10Mb improvement. 28Mb down 16Mb up
Verizon just regained some trust from me
Note 3
wow! now the city i live in (duluth, mn) can enjoy 10 Mbps instead of 5 Mbps with literally 500 people on it!
Posted via Android Central App
Just pulled down the OTA up-date to 19.6.3. en US on my MAXX.in Phoenix. Other than the 4G and bars staying white instead of blue, no difference. When I started wifi back up they turned orange for a bit. Will keep an eye on it.
Still Android 4.4.
I am on the M8 in Phoenix/Tempe and have noticed no difference either. I did not receive an OTA update though
Had to get the up-date from "Settings | About phone | System updates | Check for system updates." Did this for my personal Droid MAXX and a couple work user phones. Same result on all of them. They probably don't have the service turned up yet. Checking at Sky Harbor and south Tempe.
Thank you for the response. Checked my phone and it is up to date. I work and live right by Sky Harbor as well and they are about the same so far...still a fraction of T-Mobile and AT&T is producing when comparing. I sincerely hope it is just not turned on yet, so tired of slow speeds and dropping to 3G
Set up a couple more MAXX yesterday afternoon and the OTA patch came down automatically. Did not see any improved speeds though. I've been checking with the OpenSignal app which is pretty nice. Also 4.4.2 has started coming down for the Razr Maxx HD phones too. No improvement there either.
Bummer. Since I did not initially see any improvements I had hoped the lack of an OTA update was preventing me from accessing this additional spectrum but starting to think if I was going to benefit from it, I would have experienced it by now.
38 mbps in Hartford ct
Yay, my hometown is one of the first, I'll need to scout around sometime.
Posted via Android Central App
Where in the heck is Bronx NYC?
Posted via (VZW GS5)
I live in one of the listed cities and have a compatible device. I used to get 2 bars of 4G and now I get 1 bar of 3G. Sigh. I was wondering what had happened.
Posted via Android Central App
Anyone in Phoenix AZ seeing any improvements? I have the note 3 and I'm not seeing any difference. I live in the metro center mall area.
I'm in Anthem and I am seeing much better speeds from a month ago.
15 places in PA, and not Philadelphia? Really, Verizon, the home town of Comcast seems to be a no-brainer...
Probably shouldn't use a picture of the HTC One M7, as that device does not support XLTE.
I wonder if it's gone live in Tampa/St. Petersburg. I've seen literally no change in data speeds.
Can we break this down a little further? I'm curious if this is a Tower-by-Tower deployment or what? I'm in Cincinnati (Blue Ash, specifically) and I'm not seeing any improvement - 12.93Mbps down and 6.50 Mbps up.
I'd love to see which towers this upgrade was performed on.
Another curious thing - no update to the phone? I didn't receive any sort of update. I believe I read a previous report indicating/speculating a software update would be needed to take advantage of this upgrade. Based on the numbers I'm seeing from some other folks, apparently, an update is not required.
I wish I got that speed. I've literally stood at the base of a Verizon Wireless owned tower and got only 11 and change Mbps down with my M8. I'm starting to think the M8 has a signal issue because for the life of me I don't understand why people love Verizon Wireless so much.
Near work I can get almost 50Mbps down, at home I get 5. I'm in Cleveland.
I have a Droid Maxx, I've been able to use the AWS spectrum for a couple of months without any software updates.
Wow, even Verizon doesn't know the difference between Iowa and Idaho. Blackfoot, Burley, and Pocatello are in Idaho.
Posted via Android Central App
Nochange in Richmond VA on my Moto X
crazy since Philly is a Verizon city practically; followed by T-mobile then Sprint. T-mobile pulls down in the high 70s usually downtown center city.
cmon Philly, this should have been among the top 5 cities smbh
It's in my area.. Almost makes me wanna come back to Verizon.. Or not..
Posted via Android Central App on The Nexus 5
What the hell does "AWS Enabled XLTE" mean? So far I've only seen buzzwords, not actual facts. Is it faster? Will it get me more chicks? Does it work with existing phones? Does it have some feature people will care about?
Aws is a different band of lte. The benefit is higher speeds in relationship to up and down speeds. Now one thing to remember is the higher the freq the harder it is for it to penetrate solid structures. The main reason for this implementation is to pull some of the current phones off using just lte 700 band and allow them to use the aws. In short the only increase is faster speeds which will in turn increase the speeds off the regular 700 band due to fee people being on those bands at the same time.
Posted via Android Central App
Great response, thank you!
For once my city is included in a first. No waiting here.
Somehow I find it hard to believe that Allentown and Altoona have XLTE but Philadelphia doesn't.
It's cuz philly sucks... I grew up there. It stopped being cool shortly after the Revolutionary War
Posted via Android Central App
I guess that makes you pretty old to remember those days.
I'm probably older than you, yes...
Posted via Android Central App
Where do you live now?
Posted via Android Central App
I believe the Liberal, Oklahoma is supposed to be Kansas instead because I've never heard of it in Oklahoma. Or at least I'm hoping it is Kansas Woo-hoo!!!
I think they were insinuating that Oklahoma is now a "blue" state...
Posted via Android Central App
I wonder what the radius is of the faster speeds
Eugene, OR.! Ya! Now if only I had a Verizon Galaxy S5
Posted via Android Central App
pssst...Hey Verizon...You might want to get your Greeley and Fort Collins, CO coverage up to snuff before you try and say you gave it XLTE...Nothing like showing you have LTE on your phone, and as soon as you click an icon, it drops to 1XRTT. I find it hilarious, but then again, I'm on T-Mobile and it's quite fast in my area...which isn't a big city.
What happens when you go outside that area? Does T-Mobile still that great coverage. I live in Philadelphia and drove to Cape Cod Massachusetts, my phone never lost its signal. It did drop to 3G occasionally. I wonder if T-Mobile could provide that type of coverage.
"How'd you get the beans above the frank?"
According to Sensory you've got solid LTE most of the way up 95 to Cape Cod on T-Mobile. There are pockets of HSPA which are just as fast as LTE.
I only lose signal up in the mountains, but everyone does from time to time when a mountain gets between you and a tower. During those short periods, I usually have voice still, just not data. Of course, when I'm up in the mountains I usually couldn't care less about data coverage as I'm rafting, hiking, camping, or skiing. Like the other guy said, T-Mob has great coverage on the East Coast, and it keeps growing. I don't drive cross-country, I fly, and everywhere I've been I have good coverage with T-Mob.
What's with all the people complaining about how hard the article is to read? I think the list of cities by state is very easy to read.
Posted via Android Central App
I think it was updated after they posted, looks fine for me too.
See no difference at my work desk right now either. But it's good anyway. Streaming radio and using phone as a hot spot for the tablet I'm using right now.
Will the S3 be added.?
Posted via Android Central App
I wouldn't count on that, as old as it is.
It's not about adding a phone, it's rather the phone has the right radios or not.
Too bad with these numbers basically mean nothing since the data caps are so low, unless you have a grandfathered in plan.
If you did not have data caps speeds would be slower. Example Sprint
Posted via Android Central App
Nope. If it were about protecting the network they would stop your data once you reach a cap. You can buy and pay for as much as you want.
He is right, but most people aren't willing to pay that much. It just sucks because everything is being pushed "to the cloud" or streaming, but data is getting more and more expensive. To me, it's not worth having the fastest speeds like that if I'm not really going to be able to use it. I have Sprint and usually get around 10mbit/sec. I would rather have a little bit slower speeds and be able to use them, than have the fastest speeds out there and have to limit the amount that I use it each month for fear of having to pay overage charges.
Amen.. That's why I left. The speed was no good to me if I had to pay over $100 a month just use it for a few days.
Posted via Android Central App on The Nexus 5
Correct. If people, over time, pay more for extra data use they can (and do) invest in more bandwidth, towers, backhaul, etc, etc.
As they say, you get what you pay for :)
I have Sprint and average 25 mbps upload and 10 download never throttled and use over 15 gigs of data a month
Posted via Android Central App
In June sprint will be throttling data usage based on tower/traffic.
Posted via Android Central App
Same iffy signal and fairly slow speeds sitting at my desk at work as usual
Same for me at my desk. Although I blame the thunderstorm ;)
I'm blaming the sun...lol
Signal won't be improved by AWS. If you're already in a weak coverage area, you will still be on good 'ole 700MHz.
Poor building penetration is the problem where I am. Signal is great outside.
Posted via Android Central App
The 700MHz was supposed to help the penetration. From what I've seen.. it hasn't at all.
Yeah, I can only guess whatever tower they flipped the switch on isn't near my office, it didn't matter where I was today, pretty much got 2 Mbps down all day, which is pretty pitiful speeds. Granted Verizon is pretty dominant around here.
Posted via Android Central App
These are the phones. If you're too lazy
Moto X
DROID ULTRA
DROID MAXX
DROID MINI
HTC One (M8)
HTC One Max
LG G2
LG Lucid 3
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Samsung Galaxy Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
Samsung ATIV SE
Lumia Icon
Blackberry Q10
Blackberry Z30
iPhone 5C
iPhone 5S
Source : droid-life.com/2014/05/17/verizon-xlte-phones-tablets/
Posted from VZW G2
TLDR - Can you read it to us?
No Philadelphia but the rest of the areas I travel are covered. I still do not see an appreciable difference in Harrisburg..
Posted via Android Central App
Philly used to always be one of the first large-market cities to get network upgrades, but that seems not to have been the case for the last few years (at least since I've lived here).
I agree. I wonder why that is. It's a fairly large city, especially when you take in the surrounding suburbs.
"How'd you get the beans above the frank?"
I live in Philly. My wife has a S4 and could use the speed boost.
"How'd you get the beans above the frank?"
I was hoping for Philly too, especially since my phone supports XLTE. When I got my first Verizon LTE phone, I was blown away by the speed but in the past year or so the performance around here has gotten lackluster.
It's kinda silly. New York and Boston are getting it but in PA we get Harrisburg and Pittsburgh but no Philly...wtf.
It's has dropped.
Posted via Android Central App
M8 in Phoenix,Az...no difference, still pretty slow
Posted via Android Central App
Woohoo! Showing some love in the B'Ham. Way to go Verizon! Lovin' it! :P
Already noticed improved speeds and network performance a few months ago on my Note 2 as newer devices moved to the new AWS spectrum.
Anyone have a list of which phones support this? Specifically the does Note 3 ;)
Read the previous article. But yes, the Note 3 is supported.
Posted via Android Central App
I did, didn't see a list. Then again, I am exhausted so.....
But the list doesn't tell us if the phones are currently compatable or do they need a software update to make this work?
Has Verizon published a list of phones that will support AWS? Anyone know if the Moto X will?
Supposedly it does, but it isn't working in Denver (or at least where I am) yet on my Moto X
Apparently it does. It was listed on another site as compatible.
Moto X is supported. I verified a huge increase in speed in downtown Pittsburgh on my Moto X.
Gud sht Verizon :) now I can commute in peace (Boston)
Posted from VZW G2
Huh, that explains the 55 down, 20 up speed test in Toledo last night. Impressive.
What phone you using.
Posted via Android Central App
Droid Maxx
Moto X here, no increase really yet :( Not that I need it :)
Posted via Android Central App
Yes, Seattle Tacoma area, woot woot.
Posted via Android Central App
Have you seen any improvement yet? I've been testing my G2 and my Mifi all over Seattle today and have seen nothing but the usual today thus far.
Posted via Android Central App
Is there an update or is this automatic?
Posted via Android Central App - HTC One (M8)
Automatic from the previous released data
Posted via Android Central App
How much extra is that going to cost?
Supposedly nothing but not all LTE phones will support that spectrum you need to get a new phone if it's not supported
AC, you're than this...
Very messy article...
FYI, New York, NY also includes Jersey City, NJ, so I'm sure the NEW YORK, NY market expands into parts of northern NJ.
Wow thanks for making that list incredibly easy to read, Verizon. Good grief.
The list is easy to read. Copy and paste the source link since it's not yet clickable.
Follow the link and you will see the fault isn't with Verizon.
How about a legible list instead of this sloppy copy and paste job.
Thank you for cleaning it up.
Looks like you read your own comment and said "wow, I'm an ass!" I've done that before.
+1
Posted via Android Central App
touché