4g on an Incredible?

malber#AC

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Hi all,

I'm moving away from a Blackberry and into an HTC Incredible. But when I was at the Verizon store, I asked the guy about 4g (when Verizon would be rolling it out, etc.). I don't know much about it and he seemed to know less... so I wanted to vet his answer by the forum.

When I asked if the Incredible could run on a 4g network (or take advantage of it... it can obviously run, right?), he said it would just be a firmware upgrade and it could. That seemed wrong to me, especially since phones are being released (the EVO) that are SPECIFICALLY for 4g.

So... whenever VZW runs out the 4g, can I take advantage of it with an Incredible? Maybe this is a stupid question (I sort of assume that it is, actually). Just wondering.
 

gspeed

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LOL. I may be completely wrong but from what I recall is that you need a certain chipset to be able to use 4g frequencies.

Thus old 3g capable phones will not have the chipset to access the 4g network.

Highly doubt that HTC placed a 4g chipset in advance so we could upgrade our devices via a firmware update.

Then again I could be completely wrong. Someone more knowledgeable please deny or confirm.
 

moosc

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At the moment no 4glte phones in consumer hands. Already been discussed on Herr in various threads incredible can not run 4g lte. The consumer will not see a 4g lte phone till mid 2011. Aircards and data cards will see it before phone
 

Mark_Venture

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VZW's current 3G network is CDMA/EVDO operating on 800/1900 MHz frequencies. VZW's forth coming 4G or LTE network will be operating in the 700Mhz range.

Unless the Incredible has a 700Mhz radio in it, you'll never be able to use it on VZW's LTE networks. I'm not aware of any combo CDMA/LTE radio chips out there in quantities for consumer devices yet.

In other words, the incredible has only an AM radio built in, and LTE will be FM... You can't pickup FM stations on an AM radio.
 

Stormhead77

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By the time Verizon has a substantial 4g network up and running we will all be eligible for phone upgrades anyway. So don't sweat it. ;-)
 

dgalanter

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is that a phone?

No, it's an aircard. And yes, aircards are slightly faster than phones on 3G, but even if you suggest that a 4G phone will be a bit slower than a 4G aircard, it would still be far faster than 3G. The 4G aircard felt like normal WiFi off my home router. I was impressed.
 

malber#AC

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VZW's current 3G network is CDMA/EVDO operating on 800/1900 MHz frequencies. VZW's forth coming 4G or LTE network will be operating in the 700Mhz range.

Unless the Incredible has a 700Mhz radio in it, you'll never be able to use it on VZW's LTE networks. I'm not aware of any combo CDMA/LTE radio chips out there in quantities for consumer devices yet.

In other words, the incredible has only an AM radio built in, and LTE will be FM... You can't pickup FM stations on an AM radio.

Yeah, that's sort of what I figured. Thanks. Man, I hate it when idiots spew their incorrect information to the world. This 4g LTE (whenever it hits) is going to kill my resale value. Not that the Incredible would have much in 2 years time.
 

malber#AC

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I like the way you think. :cool:

Yeah, me too.

I always have such strong buyer's remorse when it comes to technology. I don't even have the phone in hand yet and I wonder if I'm being a sap for buying it before 4g, Verizon's iPhone, Froyo, dual-core chips comes out. I know you can't stay ahead of this game, but dear lord there is a lot of info to keep track of.
 

rew001

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Yeah, me too.

I always have such strong buyer's remorse when it comes to technology. I don't even have the phone in hand yet and I wonder if I'm being a sap for buying it before 4g, Verizon's iPhone, Froyo, dual-core chips comes out. I know you can't stay ahead of this game, but dear lord there is a lot of info to keep track of.

1. LTE (VZW 4G) won't be here for over a year, according to most unofficial sources.
2. Verizon is not getting iPhone. No official word has been released.
3. Droid Inc WILL get Froyo later this year. Just depends on how quickly HTC finishes Sense UI.
4. Dual-core won't be seen on phones for over a year at least.