That's changing soon, the company says. AT&T will be expanding its LTE footprint to 12 more regions, including New York's oft-overlooked southern borough, New Orleans and Cleveland in the coming months (scroll down for a complete list). A company rep says the new areas will begin to come online in April and continue through early summer.
AT&T says its 4G network is the largest, able to reach nearly 250 million people. However, the carrier includes its HSPA+ network as part of its 4G footprint. HSPA+, while faster than some 3G networks, isn't nearly as fast as LTE. AT&T recently persuaded Apple to switch the labeling of the HSPA+ connection on the iPhone 4S to "4G," a change that was decried by many in the tech industry.
While the international standards union has dithered on the issue, LTE is, for now, is the fastest network connection you can get on a mobile device. In Mashable's own tests, we managed to get over 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed on a 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Note. By comparison, the HSPA+ connection on the iPhone 4S, given near-identical conditions, only managed about 2Mbps.
Verizon says its LTE market now reaches more than 200 million Americans, and AT&T says it started with 74 million last September. Of course, Verizon had a nine-month head start, so it makes sense that AT&T has some catching up to do. Sprint says it will begin to deploy an LTE network this summer, and T-Mobile has plans to introduce one in 2013.
How much does having LTE in your area affect your purchasing decision when considering a new phone? Let us know in the comments.
Here's a complete list of places that will be getting LTE from AT&T in the coming months:
Naples, FL
Bloomington, IN
Lafayette, IN
Munice, IN
Baton Rouge, LA
New Orleans, LA
St. Louis, MO
Staten Island, NY
Akron, OH
Canton, OH
Cleveland, OH
Bryan-College Station, TX