Comarco Testing Equipment Supports Verizon Wireless Network Testing Capabilities

[Andy]

Comarco Testing Equipment Supports Verizon Wireless Network Testing Capabilities

Comarco equipment powers company's industry-leading testing by nationwide fleet of drive test vehicles

Media Contact Info

Tom Pica
Thomas.Pica@verizonwireless.com
914-772-0757

03/26/2007

ORLANDO, FL and LAKE FOREST, CA — Comarco, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMRO), an industry-leading supplier of wireless test systems for Quality of Service ("QoS") benchmarking and network performance optimization, today announced that Comarco's testing equipment is employed by Verizon Wireless in its ongoing nationwide network quality testing program conducted by the company's real-life test men and women. Verizon Wireless has enhanced its network testing capabilities over the past two years, nearly doubling its nationwide fleet of drive test vehicles and adding capabilities such as 1xEV-DO Rev. A testing as it brings new wireless services to market.

"We are very pleased to be playing a key role in Verizon Wireless' nationwide network quality testing program," said Mark Chapman, senior vice president and general manager for Comarco Wireless Test Solutions. "We believe that Verizon Wireless' approach to competitive benchmarking is a key component of the company's ability to achieve its 'most reliable' status in the nation's wireless world. We greatly value this long term relationship with Verizon Wireless and look forward to supporting its needs as the company continues to expand this program with advanced data, video and voice service testing."

Verizon Wireless test engineers nationwide are dedicated full-time to drive testing nearly one million miles annually in specially equipped, company-owned and -operated vehicles employing Comarco's test equipment to measure the performance of the company's wireless network as well as that of competitors' networks.

"The data gathered by Comarco's test systems helps us make decisions on network enhancements and investments that provide optimum performance and the best service for our customers," said David McCarley, executive director-Network at Verizon Wireless. "We chose Comarco because we found their product met our stringent requirements for benchmarking the wide array of technologies deployed in the U.S., and does so reliably."

Using Comarco's test equipment, Verizon Wireless' full-time employees conduct more than three million voice call attempts and more than 16 million data tests annually on the Verizon Wireless network and the networks of competitors. As part of the testing program, Comarco test systems generate phonically diverse "conversations" to test wireless network performance. Each call is categorized as either a successful call, an ineffective attempt (a call that is blocked) or a lost call (a call that connects, but drops). Automated testing is also performed on data services with tests specifically designed to measure performance from the subscriber's perspective.

After completing the routes, network teams download the test results to Verizon Wireless network test centers for compilation and analysis. The data is used not only to compare performance with competitors', but also to help engineers plan the company's network improvement program, including placement of new cellular sites and expansion of existing call capabilities in growing communities. Last year, Verizon Wireless spent more than $6 billion to build and expand its nationwide wireless network.

About Comarco Equipment
Comarco has developed performance evaluation and network diagnostic equipment for the wireless industry since its inception, shipping its first products in 1990. The company develops the majority of its technology in-house and enjoys a deserved reputation both for the quality of its products and the innovation of its solutions. Comarco has a wealth of expertise in all major air interface technologies and a deep understanding of the problems and solutions of complex network performance issues.

Comarco's Wireless Test Solutions (WTS) business creates products that wireless operators and carriers use to deploy, benchmark, test and optimize their wireless infrastructure. These products employ sophisticated technology and methodologies to permit end-to-end evaluation of voice, data, and video QoS and are used both for competitive analysis of other carriers' network performance and for engineering-related problem diagnosis and resolution. Comarco's family of wireless test products offer a proven, flexible mobile test platform that is adaptable to virtually any test application. Most importantly, these solutions are expandable and scalable, providing lasting investment value to the customer base. With added functionality available as each new air interface is deployed, these solutions have been designed from their inception to meet the network deployments needs of 2G, 2.5G, 3G and beyond.

Comarco's WTS product family consists of an expanding portfolio of QoS benchmarking and network optimization products and software solutions that are designed for ultimate flexibility and scalability. Comarco's equipment supports any combination of test phones, data cards and scanning receivers, up to a total of 24 devices. The customer can mix and match technologies and QoS algorithms for benchmarking applications and/or optimization activities as needed. Comarco's equipment harnesses the efficiency of multiple parallel test phones/cards with the in-depth analysis capabilities of the scanning receiver to provide the most capable, full-featured mobile test system in the industry.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving more than 59 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 65,000 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.

About Comarco
Based in Lake Forest, Calif., Comarco is a leading provider of wireless test solutions for field test applications, ChargeSource® universal mobile power products and wireless emergency call box systems. Comarco's Wireless Test Solutions (WTS) division is an industry-leading supplier of wireless test systems for field test applications. Comarco systems allow cellular network operators to improve the quality of their service through voice, video and data benchmarking and system optimization using integrated Quality of Service algorithms and unique multi-technology interfaces and RF scanners. Comarco's open architecture supports both current cellular operating system technologies, new 3G systems being implemented worldwide and is extensible to 4G technologies as they become available. More information about Comarco's product lines can be found at www.comarco.com.

http://news.vzw.com/news/2007/03/pr2007-03-26c.html

[SmArTeStChIlD421]

companies have to do this to stay ahead.........the latest trend is street level coverage maps..........Verizon is working on theirs and this is probably an attempt to get it done right the first time instead of messing up then fixing it like Cingular had been doing.........i mean accuracy-wise

http://testman.verizonwireless.com

that is Verizons website where they test new designs..........they have a street level map up there but its no more than a zoom in on the standard jpeg image thats on the regular site..........at least thats what i twas last time i checked............if this attempt with Comarco is working it might have been updated since then