Verizon to launch 4G data network, USB modems on December 5th

Verizon Wireless has finally coughed up some details about its upcoming, long-anticipated 4G network, with the carrier naming the first 38 cities — from New York and Miami to San Francisco and Los Angeles — to get speedy LTE coverage, starting Sunday.
A total of 110 million North American users — or a third of the U.S. — will be bathed in Verizon 4G coverage when the network goes live December 5, with Verizon execs promising that it will expand its 4G footprint to encompass its current, much larger 3G coverage area by 2013.
Expect data speeds up to 10 times faster than on Verizon's current 3G network, CTO Tony Melone promised during a conference call Wednesday. Downlink speeds between 5 and 12MBps should be "the norm," along with upload speeds in the 2-5MBps range, and latency rates that are about half as long as those on Verizon's existing 3G network, Melone said.
Among the cities on the list: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas,  Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix,  Seattle, and Washington, D.C. (You can check out a map of the entire list of cities right here.)
Verizon also has a pair of new, 4G-ready USB modems ready to go: the LG VL600 and the Pantech UML290. Both will cost $99 after a $50 rebate and with two-year contracts, with the LG modem available on launch day, while the Pantech device will arrive "very soon" afterward.
And what about other modems, or the first 4G LTE smartphones and tablets? We'll have to wait a little longer for those, according to Verizon's Melone, who added that more devices — including smartphones, hopefully — will be revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and launched by the middle of next year. (No mention was made of a 4G iPhone, incidentally.)
So, what are we talking in terms of 4G data plans? At launch, expect a pair of options: a $50-a-month plan capped at 5GB of data (which is $10/month cheaper than Verizon's equivalent 3G broadband plan), or $80 a month for 10GB, with both plans including an overage fee of $10 per extra GB.
Verizon 4G users will be able to check their data use with Verizon's desktop modem client, and they can also get text alerts warning them when they've used 50 percent, 75 percent, 90 percent, and finally 100 percent of their monthly data allotments.
Verizon will be the latest of the big U.S. wireless carriers to go the 4G way with its data network. Sprint already has about 68 cities covered with its own 4G network, which is based on WiMax technology rather than the LTE standard.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile has 80 major U.S. markets covered by HSPA+, an enhancement to 3G technology that the carrier has gone ahead and labeled as 4G. AT&T also has a large HSPA+ network, and it's planning on launching its own LTE-based network next year.
Of course, what constitutes a "true" 4G network is a matter of debate. The International Telecommunications Union has stated that nothing less than 100Mbps download speeds for mobile devices would be required for any network to claim the 4G moniker. That means that none of the big four U.S. carriers actually has a 4G network yet — or at least, not in the eyes of the ITU.
No matter, though, says Verizon's Melone, who calls the carrier's new "4G" network a "real, generational step up," adding that "whether we call it 4G or something else is irrelevant." Well, OK then.
So, will you be signing up for Verizon's new 4G LTE network come Sunday, or are you going with another network — or will you simply wait until 4G coverage is available in more cities?
Correction: The headline for this post originally read that Verizon's 4G network would go live on Dec. 8; in fact, it's set to launch Sunday, Dec. 5. Apologies for the goof.