Verizon 4G experience

Work happens to pay for my Verizon 3G service so that I have Internet access whether I’m at home or on the road. The service has been pretty decent and usually much better than what the airport or hotel has to offer from a speed / bandwidth perspective. However (and you knew there was a “however” coming), Verizon does happen to offer 4G service as well so I really wanted to switch to 4G.

Luckily for me, I was able to get a tester 4G device (LG VL600) for a couple of months so that I can put this through the paces. Right now, I’m at the Orlando airport waiting for my flight home and am happily using my 4G connection versus the free Airport WiFi because this is SOOOOO much faster. Here is the screen shot of the VZ Access Manager Statistics tab to show that I was getting a maximum transfer rate of about 16 MB download and 15 MB upload.

Here’s the screenshot from the web browser test.

I also connected to the Orlando Airport WiFi as a comparison and below is the results from the same browser test (hitting the same server as I used for Verizon test).

Hmmm…. Just a little bit of a difference, right? J

I am super happy with the performance I have been getting with this 4G device and service so far. The only challenge I had was when I initially received the device. Upon activation, I was only able to stay connected for 5:04 before I would get disconnected. I tried from 4 different machines and got the same result. A quick call to technical support (ok, not so quick) and the problem was resolved.

I am also getting similar performance results in Phoenix (home for me). I will be testing this out as I travel for work. If things work out as great as I am expecting, I will have to decide whether the extra cost of having 4G is worth it or not.

Just in case you were wondering what the coverage map is for Verizon 4G, I am including a quick screenshot below.

Good thing for me, Phoenix, Orland and Los Angeles currently have 4G service!!!

Harold Wong