Handsets

Verizon Galaxy S4 already equipped to run on upcoming AWS LTE network

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verizon galaxy s4 white

Who knew a device released only a few days ago would continue hold more surprises? Turns out the Verizon version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 was hiding the necessary hardware for operating on Verizon Wireless’ upcoming 4G AWS LTE bands. Bloomberg revealed today that all it will take is a simple software update and the GS4 will be the first smartphone on Verizon’s network to take advantage of Verizon’s upcoming network upgrade.

AWS (Advance Wireless Service) LTE promises to further increase already blazing fast 4G speeds by effectively doubling downloads and uploads. Rollout is planned to start in major cities across the US over the next few months. Just remember, with great power comes great responsibility. What would you guys do with that kinda speed?

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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31 Comments

  1. watch Kate Upton do the cat daddy with less load times on youtube…

    1. While wishing you were Justin Verlander so you could see that for real.

  2. id watch porn.

  3. Um…? Really? Download 2GB in less than 10 minutes? Okay. I hope you enjoyed your 5 minutes of max speeds. You do one SpeedTest and you’d be halfway there. LoL!!

    1. We’re going to need bigger batteries…

    2. I signed in just to agree to this! Have fun reaching that data cap faster! Every month my buddy wonders how he reaches his cap in a little over 2 weeks then he has to shut his data off. That will probably happen even sooner now without him realizing it!

      1. Thank God for unlimited….its a shame that they got rid of the unlimited data plans…

        1. They didn’t necessarily “get rid” of unlimited….they’re simply making you purchase the phone outright in order to keep it. Fine by me since I average 30gig a month.

  4. I’m going to be hard-pressed not to buy some version of the S4 now. Will probably splurge on the Dev Edition, though. Been eligible for an upgrade from my Bionic since May 15th, but I want an unlocked bootloader.

    1. Isnt the bootloader already unlocked via tool? Whats the point of a Dev Ed?

  5. If I pay for the phone up front I hope I can keep my unlimited data for this. I could even cancel my home internet service…

  6. What would I do with that kind of speed? Hum, I would probably blow through my allotted data in 2 days.

  7. Nice, I can reach my data limit much faster…. >_<

    1. Run 1 speedtest, hit data limit :D

  8. When, exactly, is this Verizon network upgrade supposed to be rolled out?

  9. Personally, I do not understand why everyone is excited about this. Verizon throttles the network. Even if the roof is raised, they will still throttle it. Why so much excitement around the interwebs? I remember when Verizon first got LTE, I got as much as 60Mbps the first few weeks. Over the past year, speeds have dramatically decreased. Throttling has been occurring since LTE was first made available. I now have an average of 8 Mbps. Whooptie doo.

    1. It isn’t throttling. It’s more user on the same spectrum.

      1. I disagree. All ISP’s throttle.

        1. Comes out to be the same thing, really. The only reason they have to throttle to to make sure there’s at least SOME bandwidth available to all of their customers. I’m sure some devices (company owned, certain corporate clients) get preference, but in general they’re just going to keep data speeds set to a level that will allow for their expected number of users.

          Data on the wired internet connection from the cell towers is essentially free to Verizon. There is no incentive for them to throttle beyond what’s necessary to keep things running smoothly, and every incentive for them to allow the maximum speeds they reasonably can.

          At some point, they are probably capping your speeds, but it’s purely as a consequence of network congestion.

    2. There might be some throttling going around but when LTE was first flipped on there weren’t that many people with LTE devices. Now every smartphone they pick up from the OEMs have LTE. They require OEM to include LTE on their devices since early last year. I’m not defending them or anything but they should’ve prepare for when everyone with a smartphone upgraded to LTE device to cope with the increased traffic on the LTE network. Hopefully with Tmobile and At&t upgrading their network to LTE will force VZW to ease up on the throttling and give us back our high speed LTE…

    3. 8mbps is STILL better than 3G speeds.

  10. Is that much speed even necessary? And its not like we could take advantage of it anyway with the crap a$$ data plans that Verizon offers

    1. Those of us still on unlimited plans will be loving it!!

      YOU too can enjoy Verizon’s unlimited by simply purchasing your phone outright.

      I know that’s tough for some folks to do, but it certainly pays off in the end.
      Personally I couldn’t deal with only 4-6gb of data. ugh!

  11. What’s surprising is that LTE devices released on Verizon in the past did not support that AWS band.

  12. Great.. Another battery draining feature I won’t use. For those who don’t have VZW, the data will eat your battery alive no matter if its 2g/3g/LTE. I don’t know what is so different with them.. But just about every phone on a comparable network gets better battery life.

  13. so glad i switched to verizon… the grass may always be greener but at least im happier

  14. I love my 4G LTE speeds in Verizon, but come on, what does that really sound like? Double the speeds and half the already crappy battery life…

  15. Porn. Lots of porn.

  16. I heard to upgrade to the new AWS, users will be forced to give up grandfathered unlimited data.

  17. Can’t wait!! Will continue to use my “unlimited” plan to the utmost!

  18. does anyone know if this does in effect have an effect on battery life?

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