World travelers beware: 4G LTE phones won't work abroad

LTE may be the global standard for next-generation wireless networks, but that doesn't mean you can take your 4G Verizon Wireless phone abroad and expect to roam on other 4G networks.

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I explain the sad reality of why you can't take a U.S. 4G LTE phone and expect to use it in Europe or anywhere else in the world where LTE is available. I also explain the difference between LTE and LTE-Advanced, and why it's not necessary to wait for the latest version of the technology to be deployed to buy a 4G smartphone.

International 4G roaming woes

Dear Maggie,

I'm an IT professional supporting several Verizon Wireless phones. Now that 4G LTE is increasingly available, my users want to upgrade, but several of them travel to Europe relatively consistently. What is the equivalent (if one exists) of 4G LTE in Europe (and beyond), and are the current crop of 4G LTE phones from Verizon able to be used overseas?

In a similar vein, does Vodaphones' ownership of Verizon Wireless have any effect on a convergence of standards?

And I love your column... learned more here than many other places I haunt.

Thanks,

Ernie

Dear Ernie,

I appreciate the kind words. I'm glad you've found the column useful.

Now to answer your question. LTE will be the global standard for all next-generation wireless networks in Europe and likely throughout the rest of the world. At one point, it wasn't clear whether another technology called WiMax might compete, but now it's clear that LTE will be the worldwide winner in next-generation wireless. The GSM Association and all major GSM operators in Europe have already designated LTE as their next-generation network technology.

That said, global roaming among 4G LTE networks isn't likely anytime soon. And there are several reasons for this. The first problem is that there simply aren't that many LTE networks deployed yet.

Germany and the Nordic countries, such as Sweden and Finland, are leading the way in terms of deploying commercial LTE services in Europe. But in other parts of Europe, such as France, Italy, and Spain, things are moving much more slowly. In some countries, operators still haven't bid on wireless spectrum that they will use to build the new 4G networks.

This is quite a different scenario compared with what happened when 3G networks were rolled out. Back then carriers in Europe were quick to jump on board. Carriers spent huge amounts of money on spectrum. But it took years before these new networks generated profits. Now many European carriers are gun-shy about investing too soon in building 4G networks.

But even once European carriers build their new 4G LTE networks, there will still be roaming issues. The problem is that the wireless operators in Europe and other parts of the world will be using different radio frequencies for their LTE services than U.S. wireless carriers.

A recent report published by the GSMA's Wireless Intelligence Service predicts that 38 different radio frequency combinations may be used in LTE deployments in the next few years. For example, operators in the U.S. are mostly using 700MHz spectrum to build their 4G LTE networks. But in parts of Europe operators are using 2.6 GHz. China is using 2.5 GHz. Japan is using 2.1 GHz. And many markets in Southeast Asia are using 1.8 GHz.

And devices built for one band of radio frequency won't work on a network that uses a different band, even though the underlying technology is the same. In other words a Verizon 4G LTE smartphone that operates on 700MHz spectrum in the U.S. will not operate on TeliaSonera's 4G LTE network in Sweden, which uses spectrum in the 1800 MHz band.

What this means for travelers is that they will likely have to wait a long time before wireless device can easily roam among 4G LTE networks.

As for Vodafone and its role in Verizon Wireless, the European-based carrier has a minority stake in Verizon Wireless. So for the most part, Verizon Communications calls the shots at Verizon Wireless.

That said, I think Vodafone's involvement in the company probably influenced Verizon's decision to use LTE over a competing technology. Verizon's execs also likely saw that most of the GSM carriers around the world were pushing for LTE, so I'm sure they recognized the value in Verizon adopting the same technology that most other carriers in the world planned to use.

Using a single dominant technology means operators can benefit from a wider ecosystem of infrastructure equipment suppliers, component suppliers and device makers. Verizon has seen first hand the limitations of using a less popular technology. While most of the world's carriers use GSM for 2G and 3G cellular service, Verizon used CDMA.

But I also think that Verizon's relationship with Vodafone may benefit foreign travelers in the future. Even though the LTE market may be fragmented worldwide for some time, Verizon Wireless will could strike roaming deals with Vodafone so that its future 4G LTE "world phones" could be built to work on some, if not all, Vodafone networks around the world. And it's very likely that many Vodafone 4G LTE devices could be built to work on Verizon's network here in the U.S.

I hope that answered your question. And thanks for your interest in the column! Good luck!