Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless owns and operates the second-largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, based on total wireless customers. As of April 2006, the company served a total of 53 million customers and has the largest service by area. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, the company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, with 55 and 45 percent ownership respectively.

Background

AirTouch Communications, PrimeCo Communications, and GTE Mobilnet. Bell Atlantic Mobile and NYNEX Mobile Communications merged in 1995 to create Bell Atlantic-NYNEX Mobile, and in 1997 their namesake Baby Bell parents followed suit to form the new Bell Atlantic and their wireless subsidiary was renamed Bell Atlantic Mobile.

Meanwhile, in June 1999, AirTouch Communications of San Francisco, California merged with UK-based Vodafone Group Plc, forming Vodafone AirTouch Plc. In September 1999, Vodafone AirTouch announced a $90-billion joint venture with Bell Atlantic Corp. to be called Verizon Wireless, and which would be comprised of the two companies' U.S. wireless assets: Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, PrimeCo Communications, and AirTouch Paging. This wireless joint venture received regulatory approval in six months, and began operations as Verizon Wireless on April 4, 2000. On June 30, 2000, the addition of GTE Wireless' assets, in connection with the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE to form Verizon Communications, made Verizon Wireless the nation's largest wireless communications provider (until Cingular's acquisition of AT&T Wireless in 2004). For the joint venture, Verizon Communications owns 55% and UK-based Vodafone Group (formerly Vodafone AirTouch) owns 45%¹.

The name "Verizon," a portmanteau, is derived by combining the word "veritas," a Latin term that means "truth," and the word "horizon." Together, they are supposed to conjure images of reliability, certainty, leadership, and limitless possibilities. ^*

Verizon is one of six U.S. carriers to use CDMA technology, the others being Sprint Nextel's Sprint PCS division, ALLTEL, U.S. Cellular, Cricket, Midwest Wireless and Metro PCS. Please see List of United States mobile phone companies for more information. Aside from the 3 generations of CDMA (IS-95, 1x, and EV-DO), Verizon Wireless also uses an overlayed AMPS network. CDMA technology is known to support more users at once within a confined space (as opposed to GSM). This is sometimes evident at large gatherings, such as graduation ceremonies or concerts.

Verizon Wireless claims it invests more than $4 billion annually to "maintain and expand" its nationwide CDMA network and support its analog network. Verizon Wireless offers voice services as well as 3G data services such as wireless broadband based on EV-DO, text and picture messaging, over-the-air downloadable applications and content from its "Get It Now®" service, Video on Demand in the form of V CAST (which allows customers to download and view video content), Location-Based Services, and Push-to-Talk.

Advertising

Verizon advertised the fact that they were, for a time, the largest cellular network in the country by showing people using cell phones and then gesturing with two fingers, much like the World War II-era "V for Victory" sign, to show that the person was on the Verizon ("V") network.

Later, Verizon adopted the slogan "We never stop working for you," with commercials depicting a Verizon employee roaming about in strange places continuously asking, "Can you hear me now? Good." (The "employee" is played by stage actor Paul Marcarelli. ^*) The "test man" represents the technicians who conduct more than 300,000 call attempts monthly on Verizon Wireless' and other national wireless carriers' networks while traveling over 100,000 miles of the most frequently traveled roadways nationwide in specially equipped, company-owned test vehicles.)

Awards

Highest Customer Service Quality Rating - RCR Wireless News, January 21, 2004
Best Wireless Product - Wireless Systems Design, February 11, 2004
Carrier of the Year Excellence Award - Wireless Week, March 22, 2004
Best Overall Carrier - Laptop Magazine, May 2004
Best Place to Work in IT - ComputerWorld, June 14, 2004.
100 Best Companies for Working Mothers - Working Mother, October 2004
Reader's Choice - PC Magazine, November 29, 2004
Corporation of the Year - The U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce
Gold Well Workplace - The Wellness Councils of America, September 2005

Content Delivery Systems

Get It Now

Overview

Get It Now is Verizon Wireless' implementation of Qualcomm's BREW technology. allowing a user to download and use applications on a Verizon Wireless Get It Now-enabled phone. It is a proprietary interface to download ring tones, games, applications, e-mails, directions, etc., and use instant messaging on a phone.

Pricing and availability

Most games available on Get It Now are available in two purchase options: "subscribe," which charges a monthly amount to an account, and "unlimited" which is slightly more expensive and has one-time charge. Subscription fees range from $2.99 to $4.99 per month. Purchase fees range from $4.99 to $8.99. Most applications, such as Zagat restaurant lookup, do not allow unlimited-use purchases. Any application or game that requires a data connection will use Verizon minutes. Unlike other carriers, Verizon phones don't come with any free games.

Even though most of the applications available through Get It Now are BREW-based, the available selection of games and applications is different depending on what Verizon phone one is using.

V CAST

Overview

V CAST is Verizon's next-generation content delivery network. V CAST is powered by Verizon Wireless' EV-DO network. The typical download speed is between 400 and 700 kilobits per second with burst speeds of up to 2 megabits per second. V CAST provides streaming video clips. Some videos may be saved to the phone or a removable memory card, which cannot be read by other phones or computers. V CAST is heavily protected by digital rights management software based on Windows Media Video 9 and developed by PacketVideo ^*. There is buffering before the video stream is played and possibly during video playback, depending on the quality of the connection. V CAST is implemented as a permanently installed BREW application on a V CAST compatible phone. The V CAST application will not allow videos to play or even to navigate menus if there is no EV-DO coverage available. Contrast this to Sprint's MobiTV system which operates over 1xRTT, the predecessor to EV-DO. V CAST will only fall back to the slower 1x when a V CAST user leaves an EV-DO area in the middle of a video clip.

V CAST is one of the few mobile phone-based systems on which more advanced games including 3-D graphics can be played. The graphic quality of these games is similar to the original Sony PlayStation or the Sega Saturn. Most, but not all, V CAST games require air-time for use.

Video Content

News
- NBC News
- CNN to Go
- NBC Marketwatch
Weather
- AccuWeather.com Breaking news and Forecasts
Entertainment
- V CAST Showcase
- Just for Laughs
Sports
- Fox Sports
- ESPN

Pricing

V CAST service costs an additional $15 monthly fee. The majority of videos available are included with the V CAST service plan. However, premium content such as sports clips and music videos may cost between $1.99 and $3.99 extra. Live concerts are typically offered for free with the V CAST subscription. V CAST games are more expensive than their traditional BREW counterparts; $4 to $5 for a monthly subscription plan and $9 to $10 for unlimited use.

V CAST Enabled Phones

LG VX8000 -Discontinued
LG VX8100 -Discontinued
LG VX8300
LG VX9800 (also known as "The V")
LG Vx8500 (also known as LG Chocolate)
Motorola E815
Samsung SCH-a890 -Discontinued
Samsung SCH-a930
Samsung SCH-a950
Samsung SCH-a970
Samsung SCH-a990
Audiovox CDM8940 (sold under the Verizon name) -Discontinued
Audiovox CDM8945 (sold under the Verizon name)
Motorola RAZR V3c -Discontinued
Motorola RAZR V3m

Controversy

Recently, Telephia has published a report that Cingular Wireless drops the fewest calls across the country. Verizon Wireless advertises heavily the quality of their network above competitors.

Verizon "cripples" the file and media transferring features of many of their cellphone offerings in order to force customers to purchase content through its "Get It Now" service. One example is the LG VX8100, a phone that features full MP3 player support. (It has a miniSD card to store MP3s, and play and pause/stop buttons on the front of the phone.) Verizon initially modified the phone's firmware to prevent MP3s from being used altogether. While newer phones were sold with the MP3 player re-enabled, and customers were usually informed of this feature, they still cannot be used as ringtones. The newest version of this phone has once again disabled this capability. Verizon's policy is in contrast to its major competitors (both GSM and CDMA): Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, and Alltel; which allow their customers to use all the features that are available in the manufacturer's reference firmware design. See the next bullet point for more information.

Verizon advertised the Motorola V710 as having full Bluetooth capability, when in reality it had no OBEX or OPP functions built in. After many complaints, a class action suit was filed for false advertising, not only for advertising missing capabilities, but also for telling customers who complained to Verizon that an update was coming out "in November." The lawsuit was initiated in January of 2005 and settlement decision became final on March 20, 2006, with Verizon offering to qualified members of the class action suit (purchased a V710 BEFORE February 2, 2005) a $25 credit to all of its V710 customers, or the option to trade in the V710 for $200 or original purchase price and allow them to keep their phone number and service, or $200 or original purchase price and allow them to break their contract and discontinue service with Verizon (all after numerous paperwork loops). The settlement to the lawsuit did not directly address the V710's restrictions. The same hardware crippling exists with Motorola's successor to the V710, the E815, but unlike the V710, the E815 was marked clearly that OBEX and OPP was disabled. Other carriers' versions of the V710, while still possessing some restrictions to the Bluetooth functionality, are much less restrictive overall, allowing full use of the customer's own MIDI and MP3 files for ringtones, etc.

Verizon makes heavy use of Qualcomm's BREW technology, and uses it over Java in case of phones where both are an option. By using BREW (which is branded Get It Now), Verizon locks users into its own applications, making it impossible to install anything Verizon doesn't offer. Programs such as the standard mail reader included in some phones were removed, forcing people to buy expensive mail readers from Get It Now. It is not uncommon for CDMA carriers to implement BREW. Most of the US CDMA carriers currently use BREW. Sprint Nextel is the main exception. They have opted for the Java interface.

Verizon Wireless has removed features in firmware updates for the Motorola V710 for ringtone transfers, making it more difficult - but not impossible - to transfer MP3s from the phone's microSD card. This update also disabled editing of the homepage field in WebSessions making it more difficult to use alternate WAP gateways.

One result of this crippling has been a prominent network of "unofficial" web sites, documenting how to enable, access, or use hidden or crippled features. This often includes divulging service codes for new phone models, or homebrew software that can access otherwise hidden parts of the phone's memory system.

Verizon Wireless has recently implemented a standard user interface across all handsets. Somewhat reminiscent of LG's interface, this standard reduces support training costs. However, it has also anecdotally alienated many brand-loyal customers who find it not aesthetically pleasing, only minimally customizable, slower than the previous interface, and a hinderance to the functioning of several previously available phone features.