Originally Posted by
hitman619
So for people that are signing two year contracts( which is almost everybody)
that makes it a year before you can upgrade to a new 4g phone.
So the point I was trying to make was,within a year some of the phones coming out now will obsolete.
I expect 3g/4g phones to hit the market in the 2nd quarter next year.
Verizon is pretty much the only major carrier that will have CDMA/LTE devices. Outside the US, there is less urgency to roll out LTE because current HSPA networks can be upgraded to HSPA+ 21 Mbps by just changing out the data modules at cell sites. Very simple work that can be done over a large scale cheaply and easily. So, with Verizon being the only major customer for CDMA/LTE phones, there's less incentive for the phone makers to rush on to the bandwagon.
Sprint has had 4G service launched in Baltimore (its first market) since October '08 and they only started selling a compatible phone in June '10. That's 20 months of nothing but air cards & mifis. VZW might not take that long but I don't think they'll be much quicker. Even if they do get phones out in Q2 2011 (which isn't that likely IMHO) there'll still only be ~25 markets where you could actually get service.
No access to 4G service = 3G phone ain't obsolete