Verizon Wireless 4G Phones Wont Be Compatible with AT&T 4G LTE

By Cory Gunther
on 15 Jul, 2011

I debated even running this story for a while this morning but my love for Verizon 4G LTE speeds made me give in. According to a Verizon spokeswoman the 4G LTE network over on Big Red will NOT be compatible with other LTE networks. So Verizon phones will not work on AT&T’s soon to launch 4G LTE network, or vice-versa. This doesn’t really come as a surprise at all. I mean did anyone expect Verizon or AT&T to share? I sure didn’t.

The 4G LTE networks run on SIM cards similar to current GSM phones and GSM users have been able to swap SIM cards in different devices and carriers. The next-generation technology in both Verizon and AT&T 4G LTE are basically the same but apparently will run off completely different frequencies.

Like I said, this comes as no surprise even though they could make them work together but clearly that would not be a good business decision. AT&T does not have any 4G LTE phones out at the moment so we will still have to wait it out. I have two questions though, first being will AT&T or Verizon phones be able to roam on the others LTE network if needed? and second, I wonder if our android developer community could figure out a way to get them to work together. That would be full of #winning. We will report back if and when we hear more on this.

[via PCMag]

http://twitter.com/benmarvin benmarvin

If they run on different frequencies, there’s no way a software solution would be able to get around that. Such as the current incompatibility with AT&T and T-Mobile 3G networks. It comes down to the hardware chips. That said, it’s likely that eventually, we will see manufacturers making phones compatible with both, although the carriers may not like it. Thus these phones will most likely be sold full-price unlocked like Nokia does currently with a lot of their phones.
http://twitter.com/benmarvin benmarvin

If they run on different frequencies, there’s no way a software solution would be able to get around that. Such as the current incompatibility with AT&T and T-Mobile 3G networks. It comes down to the hardware chips. That said, it’s likely that eventually, we will see manufacturers making phones compatible with both, although the carriers may not like it. Thus these phones will most likely be sold full-price unlocked like Nokia does currently with a lot of their phones.
Anonymous

why was this a surprise at all O_o