Paul Kapustka

It's billed as the nation's fastest wireless network. But it's been slow to attract users. One year after its launch, Verizon Wireless's 4G LTE network has failed to capture the imagination of the cell phone-buying masses, who still prefer the slower-connecting Apple iPhone by large margins.

With data-download speeds up to 10 times faster than previous technologies, Verizon's "fourth generation," or 4G wireless network, would seem to be a hot commodity in a mobile device-crazed world. But a general iPhone inertia, combined with high 4G LTE device prices and the lack of a compelling new "4G-only" application are all possible reasons why Verizon had sold fewer than 2 million 4G LTE-capable smartphones during the first nine months of 2011.

You buy a new smartphone because you want to use it to download apps and run cool Web services like video calling and streaming video. So you buy a data plan. Fine. But why are you forced to buy service for text messages and voice minutes too?

It’s well-known that traditional text messaging costs the carrier literally nothing, yet you have to pay for them. As for voice calling, maybe you’d rather rely on a Web-based service like mobile Skype or Google Talk, and avoid voice charges altogether.

LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja speaking at the CTIA show in Orlando, Florida last month. Image: CTIACan a wholesale provider of 4G wireless services be the catalyst for a new era of competition and innovation in the U.S. wireless marketplace? LightSquared, a new telecom company formed by a hedge-fund billionaire around the guts of a satellite-communications concern, thinks so.

Though the company faces a long list of challenges, LightSquared owns a large, precious swath of licensed wireless spectrum and has the backing of billionaire hedge-fund investor Philip Falcone. These advantages may gives LightSquared enough credibility to attract the partners and investors it will need to succeed.

Years ago cell phone companies began offering “family plans” that provided a common bucket of voice minutes for use by anybody in the family who owned a cell phone. Now, in 2011, many voice devices have been replaced by data devices--little computers, such as smartphones and tablet PCs, that require data connections. In response, wireless carriers are currently thinking hard about offering a new type of "family plan," a data-service (Internet-access) plan that covers a family of devices, allowing users to purchase a single bucket of bits for sharing among devices of their choosing.

In theory, under such a family plan a consumer or business customer would be able to purchase one plan and use any mix of compatible devices on it. If, for instance, you had a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop or netbook, you could conceivably log in from any of those devices and have your network activity count toward a single billable total, instead of having to purchase a separate plan for each device, as is now the case.

Since the wireless industry can't yet agree on a single definition for the term "4G," it should be no surprise that the 4G World show in Chicago this week saw top service providers deliver mixed messages about what consumers might be able to expect from the "fourth generation" of cellular services over the next year. But one thing is clear: We're a lot closer to enjoying the faster speeds of the new networks than we were a year ago, and the advance of the technology is picking up speed.

While base-technology choices and network-deployment time frames differ greatly among the country's top providers, the cellular carriers agree to some extent about what consumers will see throughout 2011: more connected devices, faster network speeds to support better video and data-download connections, and a wide range of new pricing plans aimed at all segments of the rapidly expanding mobile-data market.

It was pure coincidence that I happened to be in Las Vegas on the very day MetroPCS launched the country's first Long Term Evolution (LTE) services, so I took the opportunity to chase down and test-drive the Samsung Craft phone, MetroPCS's sole LTE device.

An ever-growing number of service providers--joined most recently by Walmart and AT&T--now offer a wide array of prepaid or pay-as-you-go cellular service plans.

These companies are responding to a growing need in the marketplace: During a slow economic recovery, more and more people are put off by the cost of an expensive two-year wireless service contract, and they’re looking for alternatives.

I know, I know. You keep hearing this term and wonder what it really means. I’ve been following the story for five years now, and sometimes I still wonder myself. Is it something that could really end up affecting what I see or can’t see on the Web, or is it just a buzzword that geeks, policy wonks, and politicians like to throw around at parties? Well, it’s really both.

Considering the high-tech industry's expanding reach into everyday consumer life, it should be no surprise that Washington, D.C. has taken a closer look at the Internet economy of late.

Though the industry has historically viewed Beltway politicians as a group best kept at arm's length, several hot-button tech issues on the D.C. agenda this summer might be worth keeping a closer eye on.

Imagine sitting on the grass in a shady park, watching flawless high-definition television on your connected tablet. Imagine pausing the program and switching over to a video call from your mother.

Wireless carriers will be trying to capture your imagination and your dollars with rosy scenarios like this one, tempting you with cool new applications--or better old ones--that fully exploit the 10X speed increases promised by fourth-generation (4G) wireless networks.

As the proud owner of a 3G smartphone, you might have considered yourself a member of the leading edge of wireless services users. Then you started hearing ads and reading stories about something called "4G," and perhaps began wondering...what is it, where is it, can I get it, and do I want it? Here's a quick list that explains what 4G is, what it can do, why it's the future of wireless communications, and where (and when) you might be able to get it.

1. What does "4G" mean, anyway?