AT&T to unveil first two 4G LTE products
AT&T is jumping into the actual 4G game with its first two LTE products. — The Dallas telecommunications giant plans to show off a laptop card called the USBConnect Momentum 4G and a mobile hotspot device called the Elevate 4G …
Context & Ripple Effects
AT&T laid out its 4G roadmap in January's 4G plans announcement, then gave a first hands-on look at the LTE network itself in May — but until now it had no hardware to sell on that network. The USBConnect Momentum 4G laptop card and Elevate 4G hotspot are the commercial payoff of those earlier moves.
The timing is loaded: AT&T's bid for T-Mobile USA remains unconfirmed as of this writing, and the carrier has been broadening its consumer footprint with moves like free Wi-Fi in New York City parks. First LTE devices arriving before any LTE phone gives AT&T something concrete to point to while both deals and rivals are in motion.
First-order effects
- AT&T customers can finally buy onto the carrier's LTE network — though only via laptop connectivity (the Momentum 4G card) or shared access (the Elevate 4G hotspot), not handsets.
Second-order effects
- Verizon, which has been running LTE devices since late 2010, faces its first direct device-for-device competition on speed claims, and Sprint — still marketing WiMAX — is under pressure to accelerate its own LTE timeline.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds across carriers, LTE launches will lead with laptops, hotspots, and tablets rather than phones, reshaping which devices drive early spectrum demand and data-plan pricing before smartphones catch up.
The trend: US carriers are rolling out 4G networks data-first — hotspots and laptop cards before handsets — turning mobile broadband into the opening battleground of the LTE era.