Verizon 4G LTE

Not long...

What most people don't consider or take into account is that their smart phone is already super fast on 3G. In fact, it is so fast that at the upper speeds of 3G (4mbs - 7mbs) they don't notice any significant speed improvement while browsing the web. Why? Because even with 4G their phone still has to render the page and that takes a faster processor and better chip sets.

With my T-Mobile Cliq I can watch streaming videos and do just about anything most people will be doing on a 4G phone.

4G is a bunch of hype. It is like asking for the average American to buy a car that is capable of 180mph. Why? Because they need to sell more cars (phones) and you already have the 110mph version... Now I have to make you feel like a schmuck so I can get you in that faster car (phone).

Why cant they price GB's more fairly?
$10 for 1GB is an ultra raping.
Their cost for the bandwidth (not including any equipment costs), is below $.02/GB

4G is for more than your smartphone. When you tether or use the mobile hotspot for your computer you do see a difference.

I don't think I'd be tethering a 4G Verizon phone at those bw prices.

5GB data usage would be fine with GPRS, not with LTE...

True, but they are trying to let you know they are not going to allow you the same BW over your phone as they do on a link like DSL, FIOS, Cable, etc... So the point is actually moot. They only want you using the BW for the phone and will price it accordingly.

As for somebody's comment on $10 per 1 gig is anal rape...

You are thinking about dedicated lines into a backbone of the Internet at those rates. You are thinking switches, routers and a cluster of servers in the thousands of machines. You are thinking about economies of scale.

Right now AT&T let you know that the airwaves don't have the same BW capacity that your 100 mbit line does on your server. They couldn't even handle 3G iPhones all accessing video like NFL games at the same time. Which is why Jobs tried to kill the iPhone's ability to tether at all costs. If everyone downloaded torrents through their phones the networks would all be maxed out and nobody would get shit.