Archive Press Release
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Verizon Wireless
Release date: August 22, 2006
Verizon Wireless Extends Wireless Broadband Network to Buffalo-Niagara Area
Customers in Erie and Niagara Counties Can Now Get High-Speed Wireless Internet and E-mail Services, and Download Video Clips and Songs to Handsets
BUFFALO, N.Y., Aug. 22 /Verizon Wireless announced today it has expanded its wide-area wireless broadband service to the Greater Buffalo- Niagara area, giving local customers access to the latest high-speed business and entertainment services on their wireless phones, laptop computers and other wireless devices. BroadbandAccess and V CAST are also launching in the Capital Region this week. Both markets join the Rochester and Syracuse markets where these services were launched last summer. With the expansion, Verizon Wireless customers in Erie and Niagara counties are able to access the company's two wireless broadband services -- BroadbandAccess and V CAST -- while traveling throughout the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, as well as dozens of surrounding towns and villages.
BroadbandAccess is the company's high-speed wireless broadband network geared toward mobile professionals and business customers. It provides average access speeds of 400-700 kilobits per second (kbps). The service gives customers the ability to connect to the Internet using a PC card that slides directly into most laptop computers and enables a download of a 1 Megabyte e- mail attachment (the equivalent of a small PowerPoint® presentation or a large PDF file) in about 20 seconds.
V CAST is a consumer-oriented multimedia service that offers music and video content on demand, including news, weather and sports updates, clips from popular TV programs, music videos, movie trailers, 3D games, and more. With V CAST Music, customers can browse and download songs from the V CAST Music library directly onto their V CAST Music-enabled phone or Windows® XP- enabled PC. The V CAST Music library contains more than 1.3 million songs.
Both services are based on the company's Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) network technology.
"This expansion is part of our continuing focus on investing in our network reliability and providing innovative high-speed data services to our customers across the country and right here in Western New York," said Ken Dixon, president of Verizon Wireless' Upstate New York Region. "With BroadbandAccess, Buffalo-Niagara-area mobile professionals and business customers will now be able to take their desktop experience with them, allowing them to wirelessly access their Microsoft Outlook® calendars, the Internet, e-mail and critical business information residing behind corporate firewalls.
"With V CAST, consumers now have access to the most comprehensive selection of downloadable music, high-quality videos, and advanced gaming available."
Coverage
Verizon Wireless' BroadbandAccess coverage expansion in the Buffalo- Niagara region includes the area roughly from Lockport to Hamburg, and from Lake Erie and the Niagara River to Pembroke. Buffalo-area customers traveling east along the Thruway now have BroadbandAccess and V CAST coverage all the way to Syracuse. (Customers who travel outside a BroadbandAccess coverage area with an EV-DO device will switch seamlessly to Verizon Wireless' existing NationalAccess network in which customers experience average data transmission speeds between 60 and 80 kbps, with bursts up to 144 kbps.)
Verizon Wireless was the first national wireless provider to commercially launch a high-speed wireless broadband network in the United States. Verizon Wireless' EV-DO network coverage area now covers half the nation's population.
Verizon Wireless has invested $30 billion into its network in the last six years -- $5 billion on average every year since 2000 when the company was formed -- to ensure network reliability and increase coverage and capacity.
BroadbandAccess
BroadbandAccess provides mobile workers full access to their corporate information as if they were attached to the information via a high-speed wired connection, but with the freedom of true mobility. Developed with a range of users in mind, the service enables large enterprises, small to medium-sized businesses and mobile professionals to conduct business anytime, anywhere in the BroadbandAccess coverage area via a secure, true high-speed data connection.
As an example of the productivity benefits the company's wireless broadband provides to mobile and business professionals, construction supervisors can capture important details about building projects and wirelessly transmit the information to the contractor; food and beverage company representatives can re-order stock wirelessly while at the point of sale; and realtors can browse the latest MLS listings from a client's living room and manage other tasks via BroadbandAccess-powered PDAs or laptops.
V CAST
The company's high-speed network also enables its V CAST multimedia service, which offers consumers the ability to download full-length songs right to Verizon Wireless phones or via PCs. Customers can download songs directly to their phone for $1.99 and receive two copies of each song: one for the phone and one to download onto their PC. Or they can purchase songs online for 99 cents each and download a copy onto their phone via a USB cable for free. To access V CAST video content and games, customers need a V CAST- enabled phone and a $15.00 monthly subscription added to their Verizon Wireless calling plan.
Pricing
For a limited time, Verizon Wireless customers with a new or existing voice plan can receive unlimited BroadbandAccess service for $59.99 monthly access for Internet browsing, e-mail and intranet access. A new two-year customer agreement is required. For non-voice customers, BroadbandAccess is available for $79.99 monthly access with a new one- or two-year customer agreement. The company's BroadbandAccess service is also available as an integrated option on select notebook computers: Dell (Latitude 620 and 820), Lenovo (ThinkPad Z60, T60 and X60) and HP (Compaq nc6140).
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 54.8 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.
Source: Verizon Wireless
CONTACT: John O'Malley of Verizon Wireless, +1-585-321-7264, +1-585-261-5899, john.omalley@verizonwireless.com; Meredith Dropkin, +1-315-233-3000, meredithd@mragroup.com, for Verizon Wireless
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