Verizon explains 4G LTE network issues as "growing pains"

After a month that saw 3 separate 4G LTE network outages, Verizon Wireless has issued a press release detailing some points as to why its network has been unstable and what the carrier is doing to shore it up for the future.

December has been a rough month for Verizon's LTE network, with no fewer than 3 outages affecting users across the country. Earlier this year, the network went down for multiple days, leaving many customers without any access to the 4G services. Adding to the issue, even when 4G device owners tried to use Verizon's 3G network, which was still operational, many found that they could not connect to that, either.

Verizon explains that each network outage was caused by a different technical issue, and engineers have addressed the problems as they have been discovered. A single problem has not caused the network to go down more than once, but each incident was caused by something new and unexpected. The carrier attributes this to the growing pains of being the first major carrier to deploy a nationwide LTE network, and notes that it has learned from each situation. Verizon points out that the 4G LTE network has seen 99 percent uptime since it was launched in late 2010.

Verizon says that one of the steps that it is taking to prevent future nationwide outages is to segment the network into geographic areas, limiting problems to a certain locale to prevent them from taking the whole network down. It is a bit surprising that this method wasn't already in use, considering the scale of Verizon's network. The carrier says that it has deployed numerous software fixes that will improve the reliability of the network, and that it is using techniques learned from its 3G and 1xRTT networks to maintain uptime.

So, there you have it. Verizon's network is new and runs into issues from time to time, but the carrier insists that it is constantly working to improve the network and limit downtime. It's just unfortunate that so many of the outages happened to rear their heads in the span of one month, leaving a tarnished mark on Verizon's stellar reputation. Hopefully 2012 will be a better year for 4G LTE reliability. As to whether or not other carriers will face the same problems with their new LTE networks, it is hard to say, but to be fair to Verizon, the switch to LTE from CDMA is a much bigger technical leap than the jump from HSPA+ to LTE, as is the case with AT&T's LTE network.
(mobileburn.com)