According to a Friday announcement by Verizon Wireless, its initial testing of its 4G wireless service in Boston and Seattle has been completed. The testing involved conducting live data calls over Verizon's Long Term Evolution (LTE) trial networks, using commercial base-station apparatus with prototype devices.

While the prototype devices used for the trial came from LG and Samsung, the network equipment was provided by Alcatel-Lucent in Boston, and Ericsson in Seattle; along with that from Starent Networks and Nokia Siemens Networks. With Boston and Seattle henceforth to have 10 active LTE cell-sites each, devices from ST-Ericsson, Motorola and Qualcomm will supplement those supplied by LG and Samsung.

Verizon, which intends deploying LTE service based on the 3GPP Release 8 standard, is building the network using the 700 MHz spectrum that it purchased an FCC auction. Though Verizon did not formally specify the speeds achieved during the test, it is expected that the speeds supposedly range between 7-12 Mbps down and 3-5 Mbps up, thereby being almost at par with the existing WiMax deployments.

Further detailing about the recently-completed trial, Verizon CTO Tony Melone stated that the company is well-positioned to start offering the service commercially in 2010, providing it for nearly 100 million people in 30 markets. As per the plans, by 2013, Verizon would likely have the entire country covered with its 4G service.