Verizon Wireless spends more than $56 million in Utah in 2006

Utahans Talking More. Verizon Wireless Customers’ Wireless Phone Usage Up An Average Of 19 Percent In 2006.

Continued Boom In Wireless Usage Made Possible By Company’s Network Investment In The State

Media Contact Info

Bob Kelley
Robert.Kelley@VerizonWireless.com
303-694-8990

02/02/2007

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — Verizon Wireless invested more than $56 million to enhance its Utah voice and data wireless network in 2006. That’s an average of more than $153,000 per day spent to provide customers in the state with the reliable, high quality service they expect from Verizon Wireless.

The company’s network investment in Utah now totals more than $173 million over the past five years.

The investment includes adding and updating cell sites to improve call quality and enable customers to make calls. The multi-million dollar investment also includes the expansion of the company’s Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) broadband wireless data network in more Utah communities and along the Wasatch Front.

More specifically the network investments made last year in Utah are delivering:

Expanded coverage and call capacity

* Key new cell sites throughout the state, including those that improved coverage in Beaver, Ogden, St. George and the Cottonwood Heights area in Salt Lake City.
* Network enhancements to stay ahead of demand in popular ski destinations including Park City.

Most reliable network in the nation

* Multiple deployments throughout the year of mobile cell sites to provide wireless communications service for special events and other service demands.
* Additional equipment to provide backup power to keep cell sites on the air during weather-related emergencies.

New wireless technologies

* Customers in St. George, Brigham City, Moab, Tooele and other communities can now access high-speed wireless Internet, e-mail, mobile music and more. The high speed data network that enables both BroadbandAccess and V CAST services launched earlier in the greater Salt Lake City metro area.
* Customers also have access to innovative new services based on Global Positioning System (GPS) data. ChaperoneSM gives parents new tools to help identify the whereabouts of phones they’ve given to their young children. VZ NavigatorSM provides wireless turn-by-turn driving directions, maps and addresses. And Field Force Manager allows businesses to map the location of field employees and jobs in near real-time.

The company 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. Network investment for 2007 is already underway.

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.

http://news.vzw.com/news/2007/02/pr2007-02-05e.html

 

This article is missing a few cell sites that I know for sure went on the air in 2006, including ones in Midvale, Orem/Lehi, Provo, the Point of the Mountain and others...why not give us a more detailed description of cell site additions???

 

Really? Is it work-related?

Verizon's network along the Wasatch Front is almost perfect. T-Mobile has closed coverage gaps in a lot of areas here and I would say that, coverage wise, they are a close second. Sprint is doing better and so is Cingular, but they are still behind Verizon and T-Mobile.

 

I can understand you getting sick of the traffic down there. The few times a year when I"m done there I always think to myself how nice it is to visit, but I really wouldn't want to waste my day being stuck in traffic all the time. Utah is getting more crowded as well, though, traffic here is getting worse on the interstates as well and my commute takes much longer now than just a few months ago.
Cingular is not all that bad, coverage wise, but voice quality is often still really bad, especially in some parts of Salt Lake. I can't vouch for Ogden cause I didn't go there too much when I had Cingular but here in Salt Lake you often can't even drive on I-15 without garbling calls to the point where you can't her a thing.