...or you can just leave the 4G off, and run with 3G except when you really need the extra speed (or in the rare place where the 4G reception is much better.)

Also, if you do wired tether, the power consumption difference is much less conspicuous when you're running the phone off the much larger battery in your laptop. :D

+1 on other posts. Until more 4G protocols are standardized beyond the US borders (unlikely and/or way down the roads) and towers/network upgrades are done - I prefer to stick with an unlocked 3G+ global device, it's a compromise that work on both CDMA (VZW or Big Red) and GSM (using AT&T at home & China Mobile abroad) for voice calls + occassionally SMS and web browsing.

I'm impressed :rolleyes: by those huge 4.3" screen that reminded me of my 1990's era Motorola DPC 550 elite /thin flip-phone with 8 hours battery life (remember those) & a 3/4" thick extended battery for real talk power - today's version is slim, high resolution & great, excellent for retail story demo. :D To be functional, need an extended battery & take a spare/charger along everywhere, not good when I'm traveling on business with a 13+ hours full day schedule on the go. In practice, the 4G network isn't nearly close to everywhere except in big cities and towns and it's 97% "up" time isn't good enough & often fall back to 3G - and I just don't see a practical reason to spend $450+ up front with accessories just for the "wow" factor.

My HTC is one of the latest 4" single core device that is also my GPS, camera, MP3 and PDA, and I get 2 full days of normal usage (try that on any 4G device - no wonder many of my geek friends ended up "downgrading" theirs). I carry a 7" 3G/WiFi tablet that does 80% of what my 12" Dell notebook does (so I have the option to take one or both,) and it has great standby time and practically all of the smartphone accessories will work with it (by adding 1 or 2 mini to micro usb adapters.)

Given the pace of tech advancement, 4G devices will flood the market with more choices, improved coverage and reduced battery drain by this time next year and in 2013 - and reconsider my needs for it then. ;)

P.S. - Just got a heads-up from our own IT, VZW's 4G network gone down again this morning (apparently some 3G's too) in multiple key markets. Not good - 2nd. time this month, heading over to dslreports & howardforum to get the scoop .... :rolleyes:

To add to the "no reason for 4G", I even got an unlocked ATT iPhone 3GS that only gets EDGE on my home network (Cincinnati Bell) and it is fine for me. Cincinnati Bell uses T-Mobile bands in and out of the area so its also limited when roaming. OTOH, I find that using free WiFi is plenty good for any big data hogs like the Watch ESPN app and I can fine them pretty easily and if not, no big deal. The phone seems to automatically switch to WiFi for some reason that I have not figured out and don't really need to.

As one of the five people in the known universe who is not on Twitter or Facebook, that's a non issue as well.:D

I got it mostly for use overseas with a "foreign" SIM and iOS 5 syncing to my iPad is nice.

Cheers

I picked up a Huawei Mifi last year and used it in Sicily and Hong Kong since.

Speeds I get are at least as good as the Hotel Internet so it's great for travel.

I'll replace it when LTE networks are more common and I can use a device throughout Europe at least (I've given up hope of finding decent prepaid data products in the US, because the carriers have effectively minimized competition by hogging all the spectrum).

It may be at least another 2-3 years before this happens.

1 of 5, meet 2 of 5. ;)

Oh, no - that's 2.5 of us, LoL. :o

I have both a FB and Twitter account, active & registered - strictly for beta purposes and for emergencies within my inner circle of familiy members. :rolleyes:

I was a bad boy when it comes to YouTube, however, DW was inside our local Macy's mall yesterday for an hour and I actually, instead of listening to MP3's burned on a CD, used it for like 20 minutes since 3G signal was actually good at typical DSL speed, as we normally get pathetic 1X RTTT or Edge at home, unless I go out to the front porch with a 270 degree heading +/- 10 deg.

Speaking of the devil, Big Red's 4G LTE is apparently restored again, and I know of folks escaping from the BB's due to its outage. :D

in the US where prices are high

when prices are low / values are good, why not?

Because 4 is bigger than 3 ?

And of course 3G phones consume more battery than 2 or 2.5G phones.

[facepalm]

Of course - how could I have not known? :)

I am in agreement with most posts here, I do not think a Verizon 4G phone is a big deal. But then again I am not a big user of any feature other than talk and looking at the daily Dilbert cartoon on my smart phone. But, is you are going to be moving a large amount of data to your PC using the phone as your hot-spot then I would not go any other way.
My reasons are simple, I have a Verizon Mifi LTE device and I do use this for large work related downloads. A colleague and I were together in the same room and performed a unscientific test by download the same file from 2 different internal FTP servers we did it once from each and measured the results. The LTE device in all test got the file in about 1/2 the time a the 3G device. So for large data movement LTE everything else like talk text browsing 3g will be just fine.

How much do you pay for that hotspot service and what is the cap?

Nothing. My company pays for it. No idea what the cap is, if there is one.

Make it 3. I do not "tweet".


Anyway, I have to admit, I *love* 4G when I'm actually receiving a decent 4G signal. Browsing the web, downloading video, receiving emails - all are faster. However, it's only about 20% of the time that I have a good 4G signal, which means I wouldn't recommend anyone outlay an incremental investment to get 4G right now.

My upgrade cycle in hit April, so I got a 4G Samsung Galaxy. It was the best phone that had dropped to "free" in our corporate plan. (Oddly, the HTC Evo - an older phone - was still a hundred bucks or so.) I definitely notice the battery drain when I have 4G enabled.

I'm with Sprint. I don't know about the other carriers, but I'd imagine that by now most have at least one 4G handset in their "free" category for new subscribers or contract renewals at the upgrade window. So it might not be a big decision whether to get it at all, but whether to bother enabling it on the device.

I definitely would not break a contract or pay the insanely high "retail rates" to get a 4G device.

My international phone is as low-tech as it gets: an unlocked Nokia that does absolutely nothing but talk and text. (Cost: about 10 Euros, new in '08 or so...but very much late 90's technology.) I also carry the Galaxy, figuring I can sometimes jump on a Wifi connection, use Skype, etc. But simple prepaid SIMs are usually cheap & easy and my data needs abroad can usually be handled at the hotel, office, or elsewhere besides the mobile device.

Well if you're not paying then there is effectively no cap since the company would pay any overage charges.

But for consumers, paying $50 or more so that you can hit a 5GB cap in half or less the time that you would on 3G is not that attractive an option.

I would pay $50 or 60 if it can provide both my home and mobile use. That means it has to have speeds comparable to home connections (around 10 Mbps) with low latency and above all, at least a 250 GB cap.

The faster speeds of LTE are meaningless with a ridiculously low cap.