Nov. 5--The wireless industry gathered Wednesday in Dallas to talk about the next generation of high-speed mobile connectivity and promote a new industry standard.

But the spirit of cooperation went only so far.

Some of the disagreements among the giants couldn't help but leak out, even as telecom experts predicted a magical era a few years down the road with 50 billion mobile devices hooked into a global wireless Web.

The LTE Americas conference, which continues through the rest of this week, focuses on a specific technology being adopted by many wireless companies to build the fourth-generation, or 4G, wireless network.

Much of the 4G technology is being designed or tested in the Dallas area.

LTE is short for long-term evolution and theoretically brings maximum wireless download speeds of 100 megabits per second.

In other words, your cellphone could soon have a faster Internet connection than the broadband modem plugged into your computer at home.

And 4G won't just connect phones, but also cameras, utility meters, medical monitors, earthquake sensors and other machines.

Patrik Ringqvist, vice president of strategic development at telecom equipment maker Ericsson AB, said there could be 50 billion wireless devices in use by 2020, with many of them needing the ultra-fast speeds possible on 4G.

Dallas-based AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Richardson-based MetroPCS Wireless Inc. and others made their case Wednesday on the opening day of the show for why they're making such an aggressive push into 4G.

"It's really a foregone conclusion that 4G will be the game-changer we all hope it can be," said Verizon Wireless chief technical officer Anthony Melone.

"Verizon Wireless has a lot of skin in this game. We're going to be very aggressive in deploying this technology."

Melone said his company will have 4G coverage in 25 to 30 major markets covering more than 100 million people in the U.S. by the end of next year.

Slinging a little mud

And he couldn't help but get a dig in at rival AT&T, which is moving a bit slower into 4G and focusing initially on upgrading its 3G network.

"Why invest in older technology when something new is right there, ready to be had?" Melone said during his speech.

Kris Rinne, senior vice president of architecture and planning at AT&T, took the podium next.

She said AT&T will begin 4G LTE trials next year but won't push for broader deployment until 2011.

In the meantime, she said, boosting the speed and signal strength of AT&T's 3G network makes sense because 4G phones probably won't be available until 2011.