Verizon Wireless Extends Wireless Broadband Network to Ithaca, New York Area
Local Customers Can Now Get High-Speed Wireless Internet and E-mail Services, and Download Video Clips and Songs To Handsets
ITHACA, N.Y., Dec. 18 -- Verizon Wireless announced today it has expanded its wide-area wireless broadband service to the Ithaca area, giving local customers access to the latest high-speed business and entertainment services on their wireless phones, laptop computers and other wireless devices. The new service is also launching today in the Binghamton, Elmira-Corning and Poughkeepsie areas. The service is already available in the Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany markets.
With the expansion, local Verizon Wireless customers are able to access the company's two wireless broadband services -- BroadbandAccess and V CAST -- while traveling throughout the Greater Ithaca area, including several surrounding towns and villages. The service is also now available along Route 17 from Corning to Binghamton.
BroadbandAccess is the company's high-speed wireless broadband service 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 1.5 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 Upstate New York," said Ken Dixon, president of Verizon Wireless' Upstate New York Region. "With BroadbandAccess, local mobile professionals and business customers will now be able to take their desktop experience with them, allowing them to wirelessly access their 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 Ithaca area includes the area roughly from Lansing south through the City of Ithaca, including the Cornell University and Ithaca College campuses. (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 covers half the nation's population. Verizon Wireless has invested $35 billion in the last seven years - $5 billion on average every year since the company was formed - to increase the coverage and capacity of its national network and to add new services.
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).
For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 57 million customers. The largest US wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 60,000 employees nationwide. The company 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
+1-585-321-7264
+1-585-261-5899
john.omalley@verizonwireless.com
Meredith Dropkin
+1-315-233-3000
meredithd@mragroup.com
Web site: www.verizonwireless.com/
