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The anguished cries of AT&T iPhone 3G users dramatically demonstrate the today's capacity limits, so Dick Lynch and Verizon are moving as fast as possible - or faster - to LTE 4G. Dick's spending $billions for an LTE 4G network across 90+% of the

U.S. He hopes to go wide in 2010 with an early deployment, and see significant volume across the U.S. around 2012.  Neither Dick

nor anyone else will know the exact speeds until we have large networks deployed, but Motorola is confident average users will get several megabits. Dick is seeing extreme peaks of 50-60 megabits in testing, and 8 meg in some realistic scenarios. Motorola claims LTE will have twice the capacity of HSPA+ and four times what HSPA delivers.

Even with LTE, Verizon expects to be bandwidth constrained on wireless at their planned level of investment. Without a doubt, bandwidth on wireless is more limited, but that does not imply the carriers must impose onerous network management. Tim Wu has convinced me and many others - including a majority of the current FCC - that net neutrality or something close is practical. Freedom on the Internet is not of infinite value, but if it can be achieved with moderate incremental investment is sensible public policy.

Just as Lynch could have added cell sites, etc. to get more from his 3G network, the total throughput of Verizon's LTE network can be increased for a price.  High priority when Jules takes over at the FCC will be making more spectrum available. He's expected to use his position close to Obama to twist some arms at the Pentagon to release some spectrum and also to move SDR spectrum sharing forward. I hope they add measures to get more from the existing spectrum, specifically requiring companies like Verizon to effectively use the spectrum they now have rather than asking for more.

Requirements that carriers not waste the spectrum they control were anathema under Bush, but our likely to re-emerge under Obama. In particular, Jonathan Adelstein's "Use It or Lose It" spectrum renewal policy is the easiest way to get better wireless service for rural areas.

Lynch believes mass demand will be there very soon. He tells Maggie Reardon "Consumer expectations will outclass the 3G network. That's why we are moving so quickly. We want to be there when the first wave of customers feels like 3G is not really fast enough."