Help Will the Bionic be able to be used as 3G?

[Zeaq]

$50 a month for 4G is too much. So im just wondering.... Will the Bionic have a switch to turn off 4G like the Evo?

 

[Wolfedude88]

I have no proof, but yes it will. It would have to, if not the phone would be worthless in a lot of areas since 4g isn't going to be everywhere for a while.

 

[droidfan1]

95% sure 3g = yes for it

 

[double]

absolutely! trust me, they did not announce 4 lte handsets to serve 17 markets. they will gladly sell you new handset and know that you are ready and waiting to get their shiny new lte service when it rolls into your town. and also it will not be $50 additional dollars. for the life of me i cant figure out why people think that. it may go for $10-20 premium over 3g. $50 is for the standalone USB modem pricing. wake up america!

 

[htowngtr]

It wont be $50 for the LTE on a phone. The price for those laptop devices is always higher.

 

[mpciii]

And the $50 for 4g is cheaper than what I used to have to pay for 3g for my laptop which makes me optimistic that the 4g pricing will be similar to what they have now, maybe minus the unlimited.

 

[vincentp]

The specs on PhoneArena (assuming they're accurate) show that it picks up both LTE and 3G signals. Even assuming that specs are wrong, there's no way they would release a phone that only ran on an unfinished, limited data network. I expect the first generation of 4G phones will all be able to tap into 3G as well, at least until the LTE network is more fleshed out.

However, there's a strong possibility that Verizon will require a 4G plan with this phone if it's available in your region, even though it could still use 3G. I'm sure they want to push that network for new customers going forward. Since they've required 3G data plans on phones for a long time now, I can certainly see them requiring a 4G plan for 4G capable phones.

 

[virodeath]

I called Verizon and asked them if I could use the Bionic on 3G because we aren't due to receive 4G untill 2012 and they told me it can replace my current Moto Droid and still run the unlimited 3G package I have. They said they can do something to the account that will make the Bionic only receive 3G so that even if I travel into 4G I will only receive 3g.

This is fine by me until 4G comes, that way I don't have to pay the extra. I got this info by calling the *611 and talking to account rep.

Viro

 

[smguy101]

I called Verizon and asked them if I could use the Bionic on 3G because we aren't due to receive 4G untill 2012 and they told me it can replace my current Moto Droid and still run the unlimited 3G package I have. They said they can do something to the account that will make the Bionic only receive 3G so that even if I travel into 4G I will only receive 3g.

This is fine by me until 4G comes, that way I don't have to pay the extra. I got this info by calling the *611 and talking to account rep.

Viro

That's what the Verizon rep said to me as well.
From what I heard, Verizon's 4G isnt even real 4G. I can wait until 4G is the new norm.

 

[virodeath]

It isn't Verizon it is everyone, they are using the 4G term but as far as I have read no one is actually capable of broadcasting 4G to the masses yet (as far as cell companies).

Viro

 

[djembeman]

I may be wrong, but I thought I read that at first the 4G phones will use 4G for data and 3G for Voice calls. Eventually they will switch over to 4G for voice too.

 

[Calais79]

It isn't Verizon it is everyone, they are using the 4G term but as far as I have read no one is actually capable of broadcasting 4G to the masses yet (as far as cell companies).

Viro

I read an article that said Verizon is capable but is holding out on its customers until technology is completely developed/they can sell all the slower crap they can until that is the norm. It said that they have tested networks that deliver up to 20-30mbps.

 

[jinwons]

I called Verizon and asked them if I could use the Bionic on 3G because we aren't due to receive 4G untill 2012 and they told me it can replace my current Moto Droid and still run the unlimited 3G package I have. They said they can do something to the account that will make the Bionic only receive 3G so that even if I travel into 4G I will only receive 3g.

This is fine by me until 4G comes, that way I don't have to pay the extra. I got this info by calling the *611 and talking to account rep.

Viro

If that's true, it's very good news. I doubted that Verizon would allow having only 3G data plan with 4G LTE phones. I thought they would charge more expensive 4G data plan for any 4G LTE phone users.

I hope that verizon person talking to you is in position to know what he's talking about.