Verizon surpasses goal ahead of schedule, launching 400th LTE market next week
Verizon had hoped to blanket 400 markets in warm, fuzzy 4G LTE goodness by the end of the year. Instead of meeting their goal, they have surpassed it by two months, announcing Marquette, Michigan as the latest city to receive the network’s next-gen coverage, which goes live on October 18. Verizon says the choice is symbollic: as a city of only 21,000, Marquette represents the milestone of moving past large and mid-sized regions to now focus less populated regions.
As a comparison, AT&T currently boasts just over 70 LTE markets while Sprint has yet to top 15. With Verizon setting sights on what will follow their 400th, it will take quite some time for competitors to catch up. For more info on Marquette, check out the short presser below courtesy of Verizon.
Marquette, Michigan, IS 400th 4G LTE MARKET FROM VERIZON WIRELESS
Learn More About the Small Town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
MARQUETTE, Mich. – Verizon Wireless has chosen Marquette, Mich., as its symbolic 400th 4G LTE market because it represents the growth of the nation’s largest 4G LTE network beyond America’s largest and medium range cities and helps to expand its reach to every corner of the United States.
Not familiar with Marquette? Need some nuggets of knowledge about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula? Here are some fun facts and trivia about the Upper Peninsula’s most populated city.
Getting to Know Marquette
- Marquette, Mich., is located in the north central area of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and on the southern shores of Lake Superior, the northernmost of the Great Lakes.
- It has a population of approximately 21,000 people.
- Marquette is home to Northern Michigan University and its 9,400 students. The university’s colors are Forest Green and Old Gold. Its mascot is Wildcat Willy.
- Marquette is about a three hour drive to the Upper Peninsula’s eastern border with Canada and the town of Sault Ste. Marie, and a three and a half hour drive south to the closest larger city, Green Bay, Wis., a city with a population of more than 100,000.
- From a geographic size perspective, the Upper Peninsula contains 29 percent of Michigan’s land mass but only 3 percent of its population.
- In the mid-19th century, the city and region began to grow in population based on growth in the area’s rich iron mining industry.
- Marquette got its name on Aug. 21, 1850, to honor French missionary Jacques Marquette who had explored the region 200 years earlier.
- The city, which covers just less than 20 miles, averages about 150 inches of snow every year – that’s more than 12 feet of snow. Its average high temperature is 51 degrees and average low temperature is 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The city is home to the world’s largest wooden dome, the Superior Dome. The second largest, just one foot smaller, is located in Japan. The Superior Dome is affectionately known as the Yooper Dome. Yooper is the term given to those from the Upper Peninsula.
- It was recently named by “CBS MoneyWatch” as one of the 10 Best Places to Retire in the United States.
- Verizon Wireless service was first made available in Marquette in 2009 when the company acquired Alltel. In November of that year, the company opened its first store in Marquette and continued to work on expanding its network across the Upper Peninsula, activating 43 new cell sites that year alone.
- In addition to Marquette, Verizon also has stores in Escanaba, Houghton and Iron Mountain – all Upper Peninsula markets.