Ina Fried

Recent Posts by Ina Fried

Verizon’s 4G Network Is Windows-Only, for Now

Those who want to be among the first to rule the air on Verizon Wireless’s new 4G network better have a Windows PC handy.

It turns out that the LG laptop modem that goes on sale Sunday–the only option at launch–is Windows-only, at least for now. (Verizon was nice enough to send out some demo units to reporters and I quickly noticed that the card works with Windows XP as well as both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista and Windows 7, but not with any non-Microsoft operating system.)

Verizon had already made clear that, for the rest of this year at least, the company will have only laptop cards and that 4G smartphones wouldn’t come until next year. However, it looks like Mac users will also have to wait a little while.

A Verizon Wireless representative said that Mac drivers for the LG card are in the works and should come “in the near future.”

For those who do have a Windows computer handy, the new network launches on Sunday in 38 cities (as well as 60 airports). It’s pretty zippy too, offering downloads of 5 to 12 megabits per second and uploads of 2 to 5 megabits per second. Pricing starts at $50 a month for 5GB of data.

Latest Video

View all videos »

Search »

I’m a giant vat of creative juices.

— David Pogue on why he’s joining Yahoo