21,000 Square Miles Of 3G Network For Southern Californians On-The-Go

IRVINE, CA — Verizon Wireless has widened its 3G "fast lane" in Riverside County. The company's BroadbandAccess network now delivers mile after mile of high-speed performance for customers surfing the Internet, e-mailing large files and downloading songs or videos over-the-air, using 3G-capable phones and PC cards.

The expansion covers a wide area:

• Southwest county — throughout the communities around Lake Riverside and the Cahuilla Indian Reservation and east toward Anza and north to Thomas Mountain
• Central county — southeast of the Salton Sea State Recreation Area from Desert Beach and north to Desert Camp, including portions of the Salton Sea; south of Joshua Tree National Park near Cactus City and east toward Chiriaco Summit, Hayfield and Desert Center; and north from Desert Center to Lake Tamarisk Golf Club and Eagle Mountain
• East county — southeast of Midland to the Colorado River Indian Reservation and south to Blythe, the Blythe Airport and Ripley

BroadbandAccess offers computer users the nation's most reliable high-speed wireless mobile broadband network, operating at average upload speeds between 500 and 800 kilobits per second, and download speeds between 600 kbps and 1.4 megabits per second over Verizon Wireless' Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision A (Rev. A) network. This means customers with Rev. A-compatible devices can download a 1 Megabyte e-mail attachment — the equivalent of a small PowerPoint® presentation or a large PDF file — in about eight seconds and upload the same-sized file in less than 13 seconds. Today, the company's nationwide wireless broadband network has been enhanced to Rev. A technology.

The recent expansion adds to Verizon Wireless' $4.6 billion dollar investment in California since 2000. Nationwide the company has invested more than $45 billion since it was formed — $5.5 billion on average every year — to increase the coverage and capacity of its national wireless network and to add services like BroadbandAccess, V CAST, VZ Navigator(SM), and many more. V CAST brings video clips of TV shows, music on demand and other multimedia services to wireless phones.

Previously, BroadbandAccess coverage in Riverside County included:

• From Norco east to Riverside, Moreno Valley, Beaumont and Banning
• From Corona southeast to Perris, Lake Elsinore, San Jacinto, Hemet and Temecula
• From Cabazon east to Desert Hot Springs and southeast to Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta and the communities around the northwest portion of the Salton Sea

Other examples of company leadership include being first to offer nationwide plans with unlimited calling and the only provider to offer a 30-day network Test Drive pledge that pays for calls if a customer isn't satisfied and switches to another carrier.

Verizon Wireless' reputation as the nation's most reliable wireless network is supported by industry-leading redundancy and maintenance measures. This has proven particularly valuable during natural disasters and other emergencies across the country. Standard Verizon Wireless network-reliability features include battery back-up power at all facilities as well as generators installed at all switching facilities and many cell site locations.

For more information about the company's network coverage, Test Drive from Verizon Wireless or any of our products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 67.2 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 69,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, go to: 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.####