Verizon Wireless has been the leader in the U.S. when it came to offering 4G LTE speeds on its network. Today, the company has announced it has turned on what it calls XLTE, which in theory should help boost bandwidth and speeds for its users who have devices that support the network.
In basic terms, Verizon now has support in its network for devices that use the AWS spectrum that the company bought the rights for in 2012. XLTE has been turned on in cities located in 44 states in the U.S. Verizon says, "XLTE delivers faster peak data speeds and a minimum of double the bandwidth to 4G LTE customers in high traffic areas in markets nationwide where AWS spectrum has been activated."
Verizon has a list of the cities where XLTE is now available, along with another list of compatible devices, which include Apple"s iPhone 5s and 5c, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 and the HTC One M8. The company claims that 35 percent of the smartphones, tablets and hotspot devices it currently sells can use XLTE.
Verizon claims that even older devices that don"t directly support XLTE should see a boost in bandwidth thanks to the newer supported smartphones and tablets moving from the 700 MHz spectrum to using AWS.
Source: Verizon Wireless