Verizon preps local LTE network, Comcast launches WiFi offering

Updated, 10/13: Comcast communications rep Charlie Douglas writes to correct us that Comcast’s Xfinity WiFi is not related to its 4G Xfinity 2go service, which launched last year. “The [Xfinity WiFi] devices are located directly on our existing hybrid fiber-optic coaxial cable network,” Douglas says.

Philadelphia is no stranger to being a mobile testground for telecommunication companies, and two announcements last week have not broken that trend.

Verizon Wireless has announced at a CTIA mobile conference in San Francisco that Philadelphia will be a part of the company’s initial 4G Long Term Evolution mobile technology launch. The fourth generation tech, which will be available before the end of the year, will allow devices average downloads of 5 to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps.

Comcast, too, officially launched its new entered the 4G mobile market Xfinity WiFi network last week, PC Mag reports. Comcast’s residential broadband customers in Philadelphia and some parts of New Jersey are able to access the hotspots at no cost. Users can locate hotspots for the service here.

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Friday Q&A: AT&T regional VP and General Manager Dan Lafond

As we wrote in a column last week, AT&T is championing its mobile stability in the region. And Dan Lafond, AT&T’s vice president and general manager in central and eastern Pennsylvania, wants you to know about it.

The wireless carrier has received its fair share of criticism since the iPhone launched in 2007. Though the smartphone galvanized the mobile industry, AT&T—which, for now, exclusively sells Apple’s iPhone—has been beaten into the ground for network capacity concerns. A report released in October said that more than half of iPhone users would jump to another network if given a chance.

But the carrier has also responded with substantial infrastructure investment. In Pennsylvania alone, $725 million has been spent on capacity. And it seems to be paying off.

But, as Lafond notes in the interview below, in San Francisco and New York where the network is most congested, there exists the most news outlets reporting on technology, hence more negative coverage. Here in Philadelphia, he says, AT&T has reason to brag.

After the jump, we discuss with Lafond AT&T’s infrastructure investments in Pennsylvania, how mobile is affecting the digital divide and of course, the impact of the iPhone and what will happen if Verizon cuts a deal with Apple, too.

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