Watch out AT&T (News - Alert). Verizon Wireless is planning to make some big changes to its network by introducing a fourth generation mobile broadband network.

The big change, in this case, is the need for speed.

The company announced plans to develop a 4G network in November 2007. And already, tests for the new 4G network are going well, according to news reports. The 4G network reportedly is five times faster than what customers currently experience on the 3G network.

“We are on track to deliver an outstanding wireless data experience to customers in 25 to 30 markets covering roughly 100 million people by year’s end,” Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless Chief Technology Officer Tony Melone told ZDNet. “As device makers, manufacturers and others around the world begin to introduce newer and faster products to take advantage of these incredible new speeds, Verizon Wireless will be positioned to offer our customers new and exciting.”

Verizon has been testing LTE (News - Alert) in Boston and Seattle since last year. Some of the applications tested on the new network include Web browsing, VoIP calls, video streaming, and file downloads and uploads, ZDNet reported.

Engineers said they have reported average download speeds of 5 Mbps to 12 Mbps, with peaks up to 50 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 Mbps to 5 Mbps, with peaks of 25 Mbps up, the blog said. That’s a big difference when compared to average 3G speeds of 1.5 Mbps and 500 Kbps, it said.

 source:tmcnet