With mobile carriers rushing to shift to 4G technology, based on accounts, the company that will win the coverage war, would be the one who can deploy more cell sites for 4G. It can be gleaned from the fact that despite Sprint 4G or Verizon 4G already on its initial stage, the one with better coverage will not be fully determined, since it will entail a much larger investment on the part of both companies. But the point is, according to reports Verizon, have an early head start in putting the required infrastructures towards Long Term Evolution system that will bank roll its 4G network.

On the other hand, Sprint have taken a different route, by embracing Wimax technology, "speedwise, WiMAX is supposed to be on par with LTE. But, with less crowded spectrum folks wanting 4G now have a clear path with Sprint."

However, the crux of the matter, is no matter which company have better coverage, the main concern of prospective clients is the availability of mobile devices that run on 4G wireless, to date only HTC Evo is a 4G capable phone.

Based on the chart below, Sprint 4G is now available in 32 cities across the United States, while Verizon wireless & AT&T have none so far.

Hi, kramer!

4G speed should be about more than double compared to 3G and whether that speed can be reached would entirely depend on the carrier in your area!

4G networks that can fully support this new technology and speed are available only in a few city areas as per today and we may have to wait a year or two for carriers to fully support 4G.

Have a look at: http://crosscut.com/2010/10/16/technology/20244/Verizon-joining-Sprint,-T-Mobile-in-Seattle-s-4G-swim-/

and I quote from there:

"Two competing 4G network technologies are seeking market supremacy: LTE (Long Term Evolution), supported by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile; and WiMax, backed by Sprint and Kirkland-based Clearwire. (Clearwire is building out the WiMax network nationally for Sprint; Sprint is a majority owner in Clearwire.) Which technology is superior is still highly debatable, with LTE and WiMax advocates each proclaiming ultimate victory. "

You can use http://www.speakeasy.com or http://www.speedtest.net (free) to test network speed and unfortunately I couldn't find any benchmark speed tests neither for the Sprint 4G nor the Verizon 4G, so I assume that there is not much difference between those two and ultimately it all depends on the carrier.

Hope this helps!

Hi, Kramer.

4G is 4G regardless of the provider of the service to your cellular phone. The dominant forces in 4G are currently Sprint and Verizon but AT&T and other national providers are coming up fast and furious with their own versions of the 4G technology.

AT&T is looking to promote, market, and bring to the public their version, called LTE 4G next year. If you have an AT&T plan, you may wish to just wait because Verizon and Sprint are not all that reliable on 4G yet, either. Many areas of the USA do not have coverage on a 4G network yet for those either. See the links below to find areas that have 4G coverage.

Currently it looks like Sprint has more 4G spots than Verizon. The latter has a few dots on their coverage map, where it looks like around 15% of Sprint coverage areas are covered for 4G service currently.

Network expansion and compatibility is also dependent on the service provider. As I mentioned above, AT&T is working hard on competing in the 4G market, too. Every national cellular service is looking to keep their customers and also to romance the customers of their competitors, too!