Verizon raises curtain on speedier service Sunday
Follows Sprint, T-Mobile in area
On Sunday, Verizon Wireless will become the third carrier to offer 4G cellular data service in Greater Boston, promising vastly greater speeds that will allow people to download movies and other massive media files in a matter of minutes.
The new Verizon 4G LTE and similar services are comparable to some home broadband connections long offered by cable providers, providing smoother online video gaming and Web surfing for consumers, as well as fast downloads. Business users will be able to offer employees remote videoconferencing and other online functions that used to be reserved for computers hard-wired into office networks.
“4G is dramatically different,’’ said Michele Pelino, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge who has tried 4G prototypes from Sprint and Verizon.
Pelino said that on 4G activities such as downloading movies and surfing the Web were “smoother, and the quality of the experience is much better.’’
Sprint Nextel Corp. turned on its local 4G network a few months ago, asserting that it would be five times faster than its conventional 3G service. At nearly the same time, T-Mobile USA said it was also upgrading its network to offer 4G speeds. AT&T Inc. plans to launch a 4G network sometime next year.
In a conference call yesterday, Verizon Wireless’s chief technology officer, Tony Melone, said that the new service will be “a real generational step up’’ for consumers, providing download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second, five times or more faster than conventional 3G services.
The new Verizon service will be available for either $50 or $80 a month, depending on how much data can be downloaded.
On Sunday, early adopters will be able to use the Verizon service only by plugging a $99 modem into their laptop computer’s USB port. Smartphones that can use the new Verizon service are not expected to be available until the middle of next year.
D.C. Denison can be reached at denison@globe.com. 
