[Networking] Bling_Diggity:
Well guys, I don't know how many of you (if any of you) live in the Florida Panhandle, but if you do, you would know that for years our area has been very much behind the rest of the nation in terms of upgrading to newer and faster wireless cellular networking standards. Well, we Panhandlers can now rejoice!! Our years of painful waiting have not been in vain.

On the GSM side...

T-Mobile

After years of dealing with the painfully slow Edge network, T-Mobile users in Pensacola got both 3g AND 4g coverage in limited areas this past week. I was not in town when it got switched on apparently (was in Louisiana where they already have 4g), but was pleasently surprised to see the HSPA+ indicator come on when I got back. It hasn't been turned on everywhere in town yet though, or at least not according to my phone. North, Northeast, and Central P-Cola are the areas I've tested thus far, all of which are served by one tower in the North Central section. Downtown area and Southeast side (East Hill/Heights) still running on Edge. No official announcement from T-Mobile about it though (which is weird, hope they're not just doing a large-scale beta test). Apparently 4g has been switched on a 100 miles east in Panama City as well, per the T-Mobile website. Also per the T-Mobile coverage locator, 2 new cell towers have just been added to the local Pensacola network (one in the northeastern suburb of Pace, and one on the southwestern beach town of Perdido Key), though I haven't been able to test if these are in fact 4g/3g towers yet.

AT&T

AT&T is still in the baby stages of rolling out their 4g system, with little information about when and if they are going to upgrade their infrastructure here in the Panhandle. But they have had 3g here in Pensacola for a while now, and it is decently quick. Much better than Edge, at any rate. I REALLY hope the T-Mobile buyout doesn't go through...I can't stand AT&T. But if it does, then AT&T will absorb all of T-Mobile's infrastructure, and therefore inherit whatever 4g systems T-Mobile has in place here in the Panhandle. This may, in fact be the reason why there is no news/rumors/anything about AT&T releasing their own 4g in the Panhandle - because they aren't planning to. Hmm...

On the CDMA side of things...

Sprint

Many unconfirmed reports have gone around that Sprint is testing their 4g network in and around small parts of Pensacola as well. I confirmed this (at least for myself) by testing out a friend's Evo 4g near the Cordova Mall area where there had been 4g spottings. Not very fast or strong, but we did pick up 4g. However, no one knows for sure when they will finish testing it and fully switch it on. But it's encouraging to see they're definitely working on rolling it out.

Verizon

Verizon just officially launched their 4g LTE in Pensacola and 50 miles to the west in Mobile, AL. Unlike T-Mobile, Verizon has made this event quite a public affair, with even the local news reporting on it: LINK. As Verizon is proudly displays their true data coverage map that breaks down the types of data networks by the different "g's" (unlike some other type of company i know *cough*AT&T*cough*), it is easy to see that their 4g coverage envelops all of Pensacola proper, with most of the surrounding suburbs/small towns getting 4g as well. There are a few 3g gaps here and there, but the overwhelming majority of all the urbanized areas now gets 4g service. It is by far the most expansive 4g network in the Pensacola area, and also covers most of Lower Alabama as well (Mobile, Daphne, Gulf Shores, Foley, Dauphin Island, Theodore, etc.).:D Panama City and most of the other Panhandle areas are not currently covered by Verizon 4g (save Tallahassle). However, according to THIS article, all other Panhandle areas will be covered by sometime in 2013. Not bad Verizon, not bad at all.

So, all in all, we now have 3 different cellular providers that offer (at least limited) 4g in Pensacola and other parts of the FL panhandle. All 4 providers now have at least 3g coverage in most urbanized areas. And at least two providers have documented plans to keep expanding their current 4g system deeper into the Panhandle. :D:D:D

I feel this video is appropriate for our current situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9y4iXAso4I