Verizon LTE Mobile Broadband

Thought I’d fill you in about Mitchell, South Dakota. Come Thursday, this little town of 15,000 souls will have the fastest 4G mobile broadband in the country. Courtesy of Verizon Wireless, 4G LTE will cover the town like a thick, murky fog floating over San Francisco.

4G LTE Mobile Broadband News Stories

Now, one would think that the citizens of Mitchell would plan a parade, picnics in the park and free cotton candy for all the kids. But from reading today’s online edition of the Daily Republic, it appears that the paper–and, I assume, the citizens–of this great city on the plains aren’t terribly excited.

Searching through the paper’s archives, I found 11 stories mentioning Verizon in the past year. But most related to minor things, except the 152 foot tower erected despite some town folk complaints.

Verizon Wirelesss 4G LTE Mobile Broadband Public Relations

Despite the lack of enthusiasm in Mitchell, however, public relations people at Verizon proudly rolled out the press releases about Mitchell and 27 other towns getting 4G LTE on Thursday. The PR people just changed the town name on each release.

Seamus Hyland, Verizon’s head honcho in the area, talked about 4G hitting the plains’ states:

“The expansion of our 4G LTE network in the Mitchell area demonstrates our ongoing commitment to provide our customers with the best network, products and services available,” said Seamus Hyland, president–Great Plains Region, Verizon Wireless. “With the expanded 4G LTE network, residents in Mitchell and travelers along I-90 can leverage the speed and connectivity offered by our 4G LTE devices to continue pushing the boundaries of communication.”

Meanwhile, back in Mitchell

Somehow, while reading the Mitchell’s Daily Republic newspaper, I didn’t have the feeling that anyone in town had set a personal goal of “pushing the boundaries of communication” or leveraging the speed. But, I could be wrong. If so, I apologize to the people of Mitchell for my lack of faith in their commitment.

Still it seemed like a calm, normal day in town as the paper reports. Maybe the reporters didn’t talk to the right people in town. Exuberance, they say, travels slowly, especially when it’s about some technical stuff you don’t understand.

But the paper convinced me that the average person in Mitchell, if asked his or her opinion of this momentous technological advancement, would’nt run through the streets of Mitchell yelling “Verizon’s coming…Verizon’s coming.”

Of course, I could be wrong. I wasn’t personally there today. And the paper might have had a short story next to the obits. It’s online pages were filled with political news, criticism of the mayor, lots of webcasts, sports news and a complete online directory of everyone who had ever died in Mitchell.

But I’m very hopeful that the local Mitchell Verizon Wireless store will sell a lot of Verizon Wireless phones Thursda, as 4G LTE floats over the prairie to Mitchell, Rapid City, Pierre and all the great towns of South Dakota.

If you enjoyed this piece, you might enjoy: “South Dakota Public Radio Memories on the 4th of July.”