Verizon Wireless Austin, Texas, Network Ready To Rock With Music Festival Fans

AUSTIN, TX — The Verizon Wireless network is ready for the tens of thousands of music fans heading to Austin this weekend. Network technicians — who serve as the inspiration for the famous TV Test Man ad campaign — have been preparing for weeks to ensure peak performance for Austin residents and concert goers during the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Verizon Wireless expects up to 15 times the normal voice call volume and four times the average data call volume in and around Zilker Park during the festival. To prepare for the event, Verizon Wireless network teams have enhanced coverage and increased capacity at its at Hether, Barton Oaks, West Avenue and Barton Springs cell sites.

The company will also deploy two high-tech COWs (Cells on Wheels) for the event — each with a 75-foot telescoping antenna and a full complement of voice and data channels. The COWs will strengthen the already robust Verizon Wireless network in and around Austin for the spike in calls, text messages, picture and video messages, Internet connections and other wireless traffic during the popular music festival and other events during the week.

“We continually invest in the local network to ensure that devices run better on the Verizon Wireless network throughout the Austin area,” said region president Frank Antonacci. “Whether it’s an ordinary day or a huge festival like Austin City Limits or South by Southwest, we put in the time and resources needed to be the most reliable network.”

Verizon Wireless has continued to ramp up its network in and around Austin and across the state, investing more than $79 million statewide in the first six months of 2009. The company has activated a number of new cell sites in the Austin area in recent months, including a downtown cell site that improves digital voice and broadband data services in the popular Sixth Street area.

EDITOR’S NOTE: News media interested in observing the COWs in operation or interviewing a Verizon Wireless network technician, can contact Audrey Lundy at Audrey.Lundy@VerizonWireless.com.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and data network, serving 87.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with more than 87,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: 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.

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