I’ve been spending time with the LG VL600 — one of Verizon’s 4G LTE modems. I’ve been very, very impressed with its performance, but there are a few factors to keep in mind. Before I get to those, let’s take a look at some speed results. I tested out the VL600 at four major American airports using SpeedTest.net. The modem was used on a Dell XPS 1330 running Windows 7. Check out the numbers:
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Ping: 57ms
Download: 13.46 Mbps
Upload: 8.17 MbpsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)
Ping: 43ms
Download: 9.19 Mbps
Upload 10.6 MbpsChicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
Ping: 84ms
Download: 11.17 Mbps
Upload: 3.76 MbpsOrlando International Airport (MCO)
Ping: 242ms
Download: 8.54 Mbps
Upload: 1.33 Mbps
Those are outstanding data rates for a mobile modem. In some cases — notably upload speed — they’re way better than what I get with my Time Warner Cable service at home. That’s extremely impressive.
The modem itself is relatively inexpensive. The full retail price is $249.99. With a two-year contract it’s $149.99. Verizon is currently running an online special that gets you the VL600 for $69.99.
My big issue with the VL600 is that Verizon is offering a 4G product but playing under 3G rules. There are currently two data packages available with the VL600: a 5GB plan for $50 per month and a 10GB for $80 per month (not including taxes and regulatory fees). Additional data costs $10 for every GB. With the speed I was getting, it would be easy to blow through the monthly allowance in a matter of days. Putting old restrictions on new technology is a bit silly and kind of defeats the point.
Another factor to keep in mind is that there are currently only two data devices available on Verizon’s LTE network. As 2011 rolls on, there will be several phones that use Verizon LTE. As more devices pull from the network, performance will likely degrade. I’m positive that if I ran the same speed tests in December 2011, the results wouldn’t be as good. Having said that, I’d still expect the speeds to be better than Sprint’s WiMax network and T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network (those results will be posted in another article).
From a hardware and network standpoint, the LG VL600 is just all kinds of awesome. It’s easy to use and the speed results are incredible. I’m disappointed with Verizon’s service pricing for this product. It’s too restrictive and discourages users from taking advantage of the awesome LTE speeds. If you want great speeds in limited doses then this is the perfect product for you. Just watch your data usage. It’s way too easy to hit the data cap with the VL600’s mercurial speeds.
As always, please let me know if you have any question about the VL600. I’ll answer them as soon as I can.
