Verizon announces its upgraded LTE network, 'XLTE'

What’s faster than LTE? XLTE!

At least, that’s what Verizon wants you to take away from its latest marketing blitz.

The company today officially announced XLTE as the name for its upgraded LTE network. Expect to see a ton of ads around the new branding soon (Verizon’s first XLTE commercial is below).

Thanks to a slew of AWS spectrum and other network upgrades, Verizon claims the XLTE network will offer speeds about twice as fast as its original LTE speeds as well as better overall performance.

T-Mobile and AT&T are also aiming to speed up their LTE networks with AWS spectrum, but it’s unclear when those upgrades will be widely available or what they’ll actually be called.

Most popular new phones, including the iPhone 5S, Galaxy S5, and HTC One, are already compatible with the XLTE network. Verizon says the service is already available in more than half of its LTE markets — existing customers don’t have to do anything to take advantage of the faster speeds.

Even customers without XLTE-compatible phones will likely see better network performance and fewer failed calls since the new network will offload Verizon’s existing LTE spectrum.

Verizon was the first company to roll out its LTE network in the U.S., so it makes sense for it to be the first to jump on AWS spectrum.

To make things even more confusing, there are even more LTE upgrades coming over the next few years. Carriers are also working on ways to implement LTE-Advanced features in their networks, which will offer even faster speeds and new network features.