Verizon Wireless will roll out its much-heralded super-fast 4G wireless network in Santa Clarita starting in September. That, according to an aggressive mall sales rep I was fighting with on Saturday over a $30 charge for my 4G/3G hotspot (on my old 3G phone, the 3G Wifi Hotspot feature was only $20 a month). Why should I be paying $30 a month for a 4G hotspot when the place I live in only has 3G I asked?
"Well, 4G is coming to Santa Clarita in September," he told me. "They've already turned it on twice to test it," he continued.
Bang! Just like that my angerwitheredas imagined myself six weeks hence streaming HD video or uploading giant photos all on my new Samsung handset. 4G in the SCV- how about them apples?!?! The 4G speeds I've experienced in the SFV are 10-12 times as fast on wireless as I get with my crappy 2002-era AT&T DSL wired modem in Newhall. Visions of cutting the cable and streaming Netflix and Hulu and such off of my cell phone danced in my head.
I'll let you know how it goes; I fully intend to put Verizon's 4G SCV infrastructure through a series ofrigorous tests as I finally watch The Wire and download HD-movies from Amazon to my Roku.
Sadly, even with the addition of Verizon's 4G service, the State of SCV Broadband is, well,
There are rumors of a brighter future, of course. I spoke with an AT&T engineer a few months ago who told me new tracts in Valencia would get true fiber-to-the-premises installed as the houses were built. But when I asked him the name of the development, he just shrugged.
I used to pin my hopes on a true municipal system, rolled out by and paid for by the City of Santa Clarita. But such a system never the left drawing board at City Hall (it would have been an ad-supported, WiFi system on Edison polls) and perhaps it's a good thing it didn't; there's a city in North Carolina that was fed up with poor internet infrastructure, so it decided to roll out a super fast fibermunicipalsystem only to get sued into oblivion by Time Warner Cable.
Whether you think the current internet delivery model is good or not, something's gotta change for the SCV. Google isn't going to build 1,000mb/s internet everywhere, after all. Maybe Verizon's 4G service is a good start; I'll let you know.
The State of SCV Broadband
"Well, 4G is coming to Santa Clarita in September," he told me. "They've already turned it on twice to test it," he continued.
Bang! Just like that my angerwitheredas imagined myself six weeks hence streaming HD video or uploading giant photos all on my new Samsung handset. 4G in the SCV- how about them apples?!?! The 4G speeds I've experienced in the SFV are 10-12 times as fast on wireless as I get with my crappy 2002-era AT&T DSL wired modem in Newhall. Visions of cutting the cable and streaming Netflix and Hulu and such off of my cell phone danced in my head.
I'll let you know how it goes; I fully intend to put Verizon's 4G SCV infrastructure through a series ofrigorous tests as I finally watch The Wire and download HD-movies from Amazon to my Roku.
Sadly, even with the addition of Verizon's 4G service, the State of SCV Broadband is, well,
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sad. Many SCVTalk readers disagree, but I maintain that even premium Time Warner Service or U-Verse service fall short of what other communities get. Consider that we have no fiber-to-our-door option in the SCV; that is limited to Verizon wired customers who enjoy their FIOS product (now offering 300mb/s Up/Down!). Thanks to ancient telecom laws from the 1930s, we'll never get FIOS in the SCV.There are rumors of a brighter future, of course. I spoke with an AT&T engineer a few months ago who told me new tracts in Valencia would get true fiber-to-the-premises installed as the houses were built. But when I asked him the name of the development, he just shrugged.
I used to pin my hopes on a true municipal system, rolled out by and paid for by the City of Santa Clarita. But such a system never the left drawing board at City Hall (it would have been an ad-supported, WiFi system on Edison polls) and perhaps it's a good thing it didn't; there's a city in North Carolina that was fed up with poor internet infrastructure, so it decided to roll out a super fast fibermunicipalsystem only to get sued into oblivion by Time Warner Cable.
Whether you think the current internet delivery model is good or not, something's gotta change for the SCV. Google isn't going to build 1,000mb/s internet everywhere, after all. Maybe Verizon's 4G service is a good start; I'll let you know.