It appears that Sprint is feeling the pressure of the LTE vs WiMAX dilemma. The carrier's WiMAX 4G network has been operating for a few years already and has a line-up of excellent US 4G smartphones. However, the looming presence of LTE 4G and its increasing influence is forcing the carrier to decide whether it will build a Long Term Evolution network.

Here's a new chapter in the US 4G war saga. Verizon Wireless has made an aggressive move by marketing its 4G network as the fastest in America. It appears that the carrier also intends to release a series of ads that attacks the 4G networks of its rivals.

T-Mobile has expressed its favorite in the ongoing WiMAX vs LTE showdown. Neville Ray, T-Mobile USA’s chief network office, recently revealed in an interview that the company prefers long-term evolution, or LTE 4G, over Clearwire Corp.’s WiMax 4G.

Ray stated that, “We’ll look towards LTE at the right point in time for us. That ecosystem is going to be much richer than the competing one from WiMax, which is really a niche play.”

The first LTE 4G network in the US has been launched. Metro PCS has officially announced the commercial launch of its 4G LTE services in the United States. The company will provide talk, text and 4G Web access starting as low as $55 per month including taxes and regulatory fees. The company's LTE 4G service will initially be available in Las Vegas, Nev. but will expand into the remaining Metro PCS cities throughout the year.

Well, it appears that the LTE VS WiMAX will start sooner than we expected. According to the folks at Wall Street Journal, a Samsung executive revealed that MetroPCS plans to launch its Long Term Evolution network in September. The regional carrier's first LTE 4G handset, the Samsung Craft, is also expected to be launched in the same month.

New information on Verizon's upcoming LTE 4G network have emerged. A few of members of the Verizon 30-city LTE 4G launch have been identified. Rumors have revealed that Philadelphia and San Francisco will be included in the initial roll out later this year.

The first LTE 4G smartphone to be launched by MetroPCS has already visited the FCC and was given the name Craft. This time several leaked images of the device have surfaced. Check out the alleged first pictures of the Samsung Craft LTE 4G smartphone for MetroPCS after the break:

The LTE Vs WiMAX rivalry in the US is expected to formally begin when LTE commercially rolls out in November. So far, it appears that LTE 4G is the favorite over WiMAX in the impending 4G clash. However, the WiMax 2 standard is up and ready to go and raise the competition to another level by the start of 2012.

It appears that Clear's upcoming LTE 4G trials have caused some alarm among Sprin'ts WiMAX subscribers. Matt Carter, president of 4G at Sprint Nextel, assured subscribers that Sprint is still focused on use of WiMax for 4G wireless networks.

Carter said, "Our position is that we are singularly focused around WiMax and there's no waivering on that view from us. Does the amount of wireless spectrum [Sprint has available] give us the opportunity in some time to to convert to LTE or run LTE alongside WiMax? Yes. We built the 4G network in a manner to give us that flexibility. But we don't want to confuse the market and our ecosystem of suppliers and customers. We are deploying WiMax."

Well, not a lot of people were surprised by this move. Clearwire has revealed that it will conduct Long Term Evolution technology trials this this Fall and through the Winter of 2011 in Phoenix, Ariz. Does this mean that LTE has finally triumphed over WiMAX? Well, no because the tests will focus on finding a way for LTE to co-exist with WiMax in the same market, on the same spectrum.