AT&T and T-Mobile are merging, and the companies claim that they will eventually provide 4G service to 95% of the US population. Meanwhile, Sprint will offer more than 20 4G devices by the end of the year and Verizon is spreading its 4G network to 59 new markets across the country in the next six months. New smart phone users will benefit from the increased speed for data, but older smart phones will not because they are not 4G compatible and many cannot upgrade to the newer network.
Initially, the International Telecommunication Union said that 4G networks should see 10 times the speed of 3G and excluded American networks as true 4G, referring to them instead as evolved third generation. The carriers pushed back and the union stated in December that LTE and WiMax could be considered as 4G.