Verizon Plans to Spend More on Southwest Florida

Didn't Cingular do something like that a while ago? LOL

 

Interesting article; thanks for that!
VZW's own network covers more than 95% of the FL population...I would imagine this to be very good, huh?

 

I'm sure that a university campus would be of higher priority???
Anyway, then maybe you have another choice for your carrier

 

Here's an article from the Verizon website about Florida in general, also talks about major expansions for 2005:
http://news.vzw.com/news/2004/12/pr2004-12-28.html

Verizon Wireless Completes $220 Million Enhancement To Florida Network During 2004
Major Investments, Upgrades to Continue in 2005



Media Contact Info

Chuck Hamby
Chuck.Hamby@VerizonWireless.com
813-615-4803



12/28/2004

TAMPA, FL — Verizon Wireless announced today it has completed a $220 million investment for 2004 to enhance the company’s digital network in Florida by updating transmission sites and other technology to improve call quality, increase coverage areas and allow a variety of advanced services such as wireless broadband computing, text and video messaging and other applications.

With major enhancements scheduled to continue through 2005, Verizon Wireless will have invested more than $1 billion over a five-year period in Florida network upgrades alone.

“This is another huge investment, but we’re not letting up in our mission to keep delivering the most reliable wireless network in the state,” said Mike Lanman, Florida region president. “Florida is an especially important market due to its rapid growth, tech-savvy businesses and demand for the latest wireless technology, and we’re working hard and investing a lot to bring the best of it all here.”

Network upgrade highlights for 2004 and scheduled for 2005 include:

-About 115 new transmission sites were added across the state in 2004, increasing the coverage area to nearly 25,000 square miles – 95 percent of the state’s inhabitable landmass – and to more than 95 percent of the state’s population. Additional transmission sites are scheduled to be built at a similar pace in 2005.
-New site highlights in 2004 included the Walt Disney World area, numerous college campuses and full coverage across Alligator Alley. In 2005, special focus will include adding coverage in Southwest Florida, along key corridors from the Tampa Bay area to Tallahassee, and across the Panhandle.
-Verizon Wireless upgraded transmission sites in South Florida, the Tampa Bay area, and at Jacksonville and Orlando international airports in 2004 for the launch of BroadbandAccess, the fastest commercially available high-speed wide-area network in the nation. The wireless broadband service will launch in additional Florida markets in 2005.
-A new $25 million switching facility was completed in late 2004 in Jacksonville to better receive and route all Verizon Wireless calls across North Florida. In 2005, construction will begin on new network switching facilities in Orlando and Fort Myers.
In addition to improving new services and everyday wireless calling coverage, the Verizon Wireless network investment is designed to enhance public safety. This important aspect was very clear during this year’s extraordinary hurricane season. Current 2004 public safety- and network-related statistics include:

-More than 80 percent of Verizon Wireless transmission sites in Florida have their own generators to keep the network operating during power outages.
-During the height of the hurricane season, Verizon Wireless technicians and relief crews logged nearly 300,000 man-hours in preparation, response and recovery efforts.
-Thousands of phones and millions of minutes of airtime have been provided free to emergency workers and the public as landline services and other wireless carriers lost coverage during the storms.
-During and after each storm, the Verizon Wireless network in Florida remained nearly 90 percent operational, and was back to 100 percent within a few days.
“The importance and benefit of building the state’s most reliable network was very clear this year in Florida,” Lanman said. “With each hurricane, emergency workers and the public often had to depend on our network alone for potentially lifesaving communication. This is a role that we are proud to fill and we will continue to build up our network to meet these important expectations.”

Test Man Ride-Along Program
The specially equipped Verizon Wireless test vehicles simultaneously test seven wireless providers, using a computerized program to generate phonically diverse “conversations” as well as data transmissions. Members of the media who are interested in setting up an interview or ride-along with a local member of the Verizon Wireless team of real-life test men and women, contact Chuck Hamby at 813-615-4803 or via email at chuck.hamby@verizonwireless.com.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the most reliable nationwide wireless network, serving 42.1 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, 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.

 

I don't know why Carriers keeps Building Out in Florida

Additional sites, combined with AT&T Wireless sites,
give Alabama and Northwest Florida customers outstanding wireless coverage

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless, the nation's
largest wireless provider, today announced the completion of its
Alabama/Northwest Florida network build-out for 2004, which included a network
investment in excess of $150 million. The network expansion includes the
addition of more than 130 new cell sites across the area as well as
enhancements to existing sites and has resulted in greater coverage and
enhanced service for Cingular's growing Alabama/Northwest Florida customer
base.
Joe Larussa, Vice President and General Manager for Cingular Wireless -
Alabama/Northwest Florida/Mississippi/Louisiana, said Cingular's network
covers more than 268 million people and is growing, providing the largest
high-speed data network in America. Cingular also offers the largest mobile-
to-mobile calling community with more than 46 million people.
Since the beginning of 2004, Larussa said Cingular added cell sites in the
following areas: North Alabama -- DeKalb, Madison, Lawrence, Jefferson,
Walker; Central Alabama -- Winston, Fayette, Marion, Sumter, Calhoun; South
Alabama/Northwest Florida -- Chambers, Elmore, Lee, Marengo, Montgomery,
Houston, Pike, Dale, Coffee, Escambia, Okaloosa, FL, Walton, FL.
"We recognize that superior call quality and coverage are two of the most
critical factors that determine customer satisfaction. We are moving
aggressively to continue what we began earlier this year to ensure we have
'more bars in more places.' Our ALLOVER(SM) network* is the largest digital
voice and data network in America, and Alabama and Northwest Florida are an
important part of that network," added Larussa. "The completion of our 2004
network investment campaign sets the stage for more network enhancements in
2005."
In 2005, Cingular is not only planning to build additional sites across
Alabama and Northwest Florida to further enhance the local networks, but also
to "cherry pick" sites from the existing AT&T Wireless network that will
quickly add coverage to areas of need.
Cingular's 2004 investment comes on the heels of a two-year effort
implementing a GSM/EDGE voice and data network throughout Alabama and
Northwest Florida. GSM is the Global System for Mobile Communications, the
world standard for wireless communication, used by more than a billion people
in 200-plus countries. In fact, more than 70 percent of the world's total
wireless market is GSM.
What GSM delivers for voice, EDGE technology delivers for data. EDGE is a
high-speed wireless data service which gives customers "third generation" (3G)
wireless data services with speeds typically three times faster than what was
available on GPRS.
"Over the last couple of years, we successfully completed our transition
to an advanced voice and data network. This year we also focused our
resources on increasing coverage, particularly in residential areas and in-
building locations across the two states," said Larussa. "While we are
pleased with our progress, we will not stop here."
With the acquisition of AT&T Wireless, Cingular offers even faster network
speeds with AT&T Wireless' UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)
data network, which was implemented earlier this year in selected cities.
Cingular will build on that deployment, and in November, announced plans to
deploy the nation's fastest high-speed wireless data network based on
international standards. Called UMTS with HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet
Access), this 3G technology will offer average data speeds between
400-700 kilobits per second and bursts to several megabits per second on
capable devices.

 

I kinda have to agree... there are still an good bit of areas in eastern TN/western NC that Cingular needs to work on, yet they keep pouring money in to FL. I guess that's where the money is so that's where they spend the most money on the network. Needless to say, in the more rural areas of southeastern TN and southwestern NC, Cingluar has no service at all. Hence, I have to remain with a CDMA carrier in order to get any coverage at all. They've made some improvements in the Knoxville & Tri Cities areas, but there are still plenty of areas where their coverage can't match Verizon's.

 

FWIW, Cingular in Chattanooga proper has gotten quite a bit better (mostly thanks to the AWS acquisition/blue network, which was always pretty good, unlike the orange network with its weird, low site locations), but the total lack of attention to rural east TN and WNC is simply shameful, especially when Cingular/BellSouth has had issues in much of that region (lack of native coverage, perpetual squabbling with USCC/VZW/Ramcell, etc.) for YEARS.

That's why I say over on HoFo that Cingular doesn't deserve to wear orange in Big Orange country (east TN)....

-SC