Rural areas of Sampson County and northeastern Orange County are now covered by Verizon's 4G LTE network.

Verizon has added 140 4G LTE-enabled cellular towers in North Carolina this year, and says its LTE network now covers more than 87 percent of the state.

The cellular provider began rolling out its LTE network in 2011, and plans to cover 100 percent of its 3G footprint by mid 2013.

Veteran Triangle cell-tower developers have formed a new venture to build compact cell towers in dense urban areas with $80.85 million in backing.

Eco-Site, based in Chapel Hill, will buy and mitigate brownfields and blighted areas as sites for cell towers that can be less than half the size of conventional wireless towers.

Eco-Site includes three former executives from Cary-based SpectraSite, which was acquired by a competitor in 2005. Eco-Site will also work with Cherokee Partners, a Raleigh company that specializes in cleaning up polluted sites.

The venture was announced Friday by the lead funder, MSouth Equity Partners, in Atlanta. The first phase of funding is $10.6 million, giving MSouth an ownership stake in Eco-Site and three of five slots on Eco-Site's board.

"This is all about increasing capacity for 4G and LTE," said Eco-Site co-founder and CEO Dale Carey. "There's a real green element to what we're doing: We're going to use natural gas generators and many of these sites will be esthetically enhanced with landscaping."

UPDATE: Congratulations to Art Baldini of Raleigh, and thanks to AT&T!

The giveaway is over and it was hard to hand over the prize which coincided with AT&T's launch of LTE in the Triangle.

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Just fill out the form (by clicking on the photo below) before New Year's Day! We will do the drawing for the winner in the first week of January. Learn more about the Samsung Galaxy 8.9 Tab and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket at AT&T Wireless

Early adopters with AT&T LTE capable devices have already experienced the faster speeds over the new network as the carrier implemented the technology. Today AT&T removes the curtains for LTE in Raleigh and Chapel Hill to make it official.

If you are reading this then you probably know Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone Tuesday - maybe even two. Savvy tech fans also know that virtually no one expects an LTE 4G compatible device. Well almost no one.

Finally, the Triangle has a date.

Verizon Wireless' 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network will go live July 21.

VZW says the high speed wireless network will cover the areas of Cary, Durham, Apex, Clayton, Morrisville, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Wake Forest, Garner, Rolesville, Knightdale, Wendell, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Gorman, Smithfield and of course Raleigh.

The technology has demonstrated speeds up to 10 times faster than the company's current 3G network. LTE is significantly faster than any 3G service and promises to outperform rival 4G connections offering real world speeds of 5-12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2-5 Mbps on the uplink with 30 milliseconds latency. These are speeds that rival residential wired broadband Internet.

Currently, Verizon has several devices capable of using LTE which are backwards compatible with their 3G service. There are three smartphones: HTC ThunderBolt,  LG Revolution and the Samsung Droid Charge. The carrier also has several hotspot devices and a USB modem that connect to the 4G service. The recently launched Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet is also LTE capable. Buyers of the previously released Motorola Xoom have been promised LTE upgrades.

Verizon Wireless has already activated LTE in the Fayetteville-Lumberton, Wilmington and Charlotte areas in N.C. The Asheville area will be added later to complete coverage in North Carolina.

Last year, the world’s first large-scale launch of LTE began in 38 major metropolitan areas and in more than 60 commercial airports coast to coast.

In addition, Verizon says 58 new cell sites have been added in the Raleigh-Durham area to improve coverage.

AT&T officials said today that Raleigh and Charlotte will be among the company's first markets to get upgraded telecommunications service known as 4G.

AT&T customers in two North Carolina cities will get 4G service sometime later this year, said Alison Hall, AT&T's vice president and general manager for consumer markets in the Carolinas.

With competitors marketing 4G services for months now, AT&T is scrambling to meet its own customers' demand for quick downloading of gargantuan files and glitch-free video capability.

4G, a shorthand for fourth-generation technology, allows for wireless Internet speeds that are 5 to 10 times faster than speeds available today. Customers are increasingly demanding those levels of capability to download video, movies and other data to smartphones and other wireless devices.

"Raleigh's going to be on the forefront of that [technology] evolution," Hall said.

The first 4G phone from Verizon Wireless will go on sale Thursday.

Selling for $250 with a two-year contract, the HTC ThunderBolt is an Android smart phone with a 4.3-inch touchscreen. An unlimited data plan will be offered.

LTE should provide download speeds of 5 to 12 mbps and is regarded the fastest of 4G wireless networks, but is available only in the largest 40 or so metro areas in the U.S..

The Triangle is not yet endowed with LTE.

Specifications and features:

4G LTE – customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage areas

4.3" WVGA display

8- megapixel rear facing camera and HD (720p) video recording

1.3- megapixel front facing camera with video chatting capabilities

Latest generation of the 1GHz Snapdragon processor

Mobile Hotspot capability – share 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Mobile Hotspot will be included through May 15 for no additional charge. After May 15, customers may choose to activate Mobile Hotspot for $20 for 2 GB of data per month.

8 GB of onboard memory and a pre-installed 32 GB microSD card

Built-in kickstand

A Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package is required. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access and an unlimited 4G LTE data plan is $29.99 monthly access.

Alongside an arsenal of ten new 4G capable devices, Verizon confirmed today that it is bringing the world’s first large-scale 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to the Triangle this year.

Verizon Wireless will be introducing its brand of high-speed wireless broadband service in the state by the end of this year, as the wireless industry races to meet customer demand for instantaneous data traffic anywhere.

The technology, commonly known as 4G, will offer wireless speeds 10 times faster to the company's current 3G wireless technology.

It will be comparable to an office broadband connection, said company spokeswoman Karen Schulz. 4G will allow quick video downloads and video streaming anywhere on the Verizon Wireless network that's 4G enabled.

Verizon plans to introduce the service in Charlotte this year as part of a first wave of rollouts in 38 markets.