Verizon Wireless Drove Nearly 35,000 Miles and Made More Than 935,000 Call Attempts and Data Tests in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and Portions of West Virginia to Test Network Reliability in the First Half of 2010

WARRENDALE, Pa., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- That four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle you passed on an Ohio highway or secondary road may have been a Verizon Wireless test vehicle.  The company's unmarked test vehicles, driven by local Verizon Wireless network systems performance engineers, traveled nearly 35,000 miles of local highways and byways to test the Verizon Wireless network and the networks of competitors in the first half of 2010.

Using sophisticated testing equipment, Verizon Wireless' local team of network technicians conducted more than 133,000 voice call attempts and 802,000 data tests in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and the northeastern portion of West Virginia on the Verizon Wireless network and the networks of major competitors.

Nationally, Verizon Wireless test men and women drove a total of 497,700 miles and conducted 1.69 million voice call attempts and 9.7 million data tests from January through June 2010.

Data collected year-round by the company's nationwide team of 100 test men and women – the largest single team of systems performance engineers deployed by a U.S. wireless service provider – provide the support for the company's "nation's most reliable wireless network" claim.  Results of national voice reliability tests consistently show that the Verizon Wireless network beats all other carriers.  Similarly, national data reliability test results establish that the Verizon Wireless 3G network is more reliable than national competitors' 3G networks.    

The collected data also helps Verizon Wireless plan its multi-billion dollar network capital expenditure program.  Since the company was formed, Verizon Wireless has invested more than $60 billion – $5.7 billion on average every year – to increase the coverage and capacity of its premier nationwide network and to add new services.  The company's ongoing network investment in the Ohio/Pennsylvania/West Virginia Region now totals more than $2.8 billion.

Learn More

• Learn more about how Verizon Wireless test men and women test the company's network and how Verizon Wireless uses the collected data to help direct its multi-billion dollar network capital expenditure program at http://news.vzw.com/news/2010/03/pr2010-03-23h.html.
• Meet our test men and women at http://news.vzw.com/testdriver.  
• View video of a Verizon Wireless test man as he tests the company's network at http://tinyurl.com/29bl4n4.

To set up an interview and ride-along network test drive with your local Verizon Wireless test man or woman, contact Laura Merritt at 614-561-2605.

Stay in the know about Verizon Wireless news in the Ohio/Pennsylvania/West Virginia Region by following @merrila on Twitter at http://twitter.com/merrila.  For the latest network-related news, information and upgrades, follow @VZWNetwork on Twitter at http://twitter.com/VZWNetwork.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 92 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 79,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, Nasdaq: VOD).  For more information, visit 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