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.

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.

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.

Here's an interesting update for consumers who are waiting for the launch of the Verizon Wireless LTE 4G network. The folks at BGR have received a tip that Verizon Wireless has made successful end-to-end LTE data calls in 34 of the 38 test markets it is currently operating.

This LTE 4G leak confirms Verizon's previous claims that they are on schedule to meet their goal of 25 to 30 markets live by the end of 2010. So that means that we'll have a WiMAX vs LTE battle before the year ends. Rumors point to November as the possible commercial release for this high-speed network.

LTE 4G's first smartphone has surfaced. The Samsung SCH-r900 for MetroPCS was first introduced at CTIA 2010 and it has reappeared at the testing halls of the FCC.

Will this smartphone be able to stand up against the HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G?

WiMAX 4G may have a slight lead over LTE at the US market but the case is very different in the world stage. WiMax 4G operators in the U.K. and The Netherlands are closing and US operators may be on the verge of shifting their allegiance over to LTE. Is the LTE vs WiMAX battle over?