When does Verizon test 4G? Can I use it during testing?

[scotty562]

I'm curious when Verizon does testing with the 4G. A Verizon rep told me they were testing it in my area (near Selinsgrove, PA). So naturally I'm really excited and would like to try it out even if it is for 5 minutes while they are testing it. If nothing else, I'd like to make sure my signal is good enough.

[ben7337]

You should be able to use it when it is still being tested or set up yes. Some people report testing being on for maybe 5-20 mins or an hr or 2 for a number of days, others for weeks like that even. I think 7pm is a common time, but might be hard to say. Usually it eventually goes live permanently though anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months before the coverage becomes official, so you might have LTE long before it is ever on the map.

Also what sort of rep did you talk to? Many do not know what they are talking about, or will say anything to sell a phone or push 4g. You didn't really explain if it was because you bought a phone that you were talking to a rep, or for some other reason, but just keep it in mind.

[scotty562]

It was one of the service reps that came out to our business to help setup our new phones. They had no motivation to lie since they weren't selling anything.

That's exciting news then. They told us 4G should be live by the end of the year so if it comes on a month or two in advance it could literally be any day now . I am sooo excited to go from ~1mb to 10+mb.

[ben7337]

Still no guarantees even with a service rep, but hopefully they were right.

As for the end of the year claim, there's almost no way I can see them being wrong about that. Verizon will have 400 markets and 260million people covered by the end of the year, that is advertised directly by verizon. Looking at urban population data from the census, we see that even towns with 2500 residents are technically urban clusters and make up the 80% of so of people in "urban" areas. If verizon wishes to cover 260/310 million, that's 83.8% of the population, they will need to be covering all of these urban clusters basically, that or we'll need to see some vast swaths of rural land to make up for missing urban coverage. So since your town has 5000 people, it is basically guaranteed to be covered by the end of the year, but that is still 7 months away.