Verizon To Provide LTE Launch Details December 1Verizon To Provide LTE Launch Details December 1

Verizon has been sharing information abouts its forthcoming LTE network launch in bits and pieces over the course of the last six months. We know that Verizon plans to launch LTE in 38 "NFL" cities by the end of December, and will cover approximately 110 million people. That's about it, though.

On Wednesday, December 1, at Noon eastern time, Verizon will state exactly when those 38 markets are going live, what devices can be used to access the LTE network, and how much it's all going to cost.

The teleconference will be hosted by Verizon Wireless' senior vice president and chief technical officer, Tony Melone. Details will also be shared by Verizon Wireless' official Twitter account, which is located at twitter.com/VerizonWireless.

Verizon Wireless is already advertising LTE network download speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps, and upload speeds of 3Mbps to 5Mbps. Thats a major boost when compared to Verizon's EVDO-based 3G network, which taps about between 1Mbps and 2Mbps on the download in real-world conditions.

Verizon hasn't specifically announced what devices will be able to access and use the LTE network, but several laptop dongles have been leaked. I don't expect to see any LTE handsets announced by Verizon until CES in January 2011. Verizon's executives have already publicly stated that the first LTE phones won't hit the market until February 2011.

Verizon Wireless also hasn't specified how much it is going to charge for LTE services. Expect data pricing to be tiered.

We'll learn the answers to these and more questions on December 1.