Verizon Wireless Is Having A COW At Laconia 'Bike Week'

WOBURN, MA — Verizon Wireless is beefing up its network capacity during Laconia Motorcycle Week, June 9th — 17th, by activating a temporary cell site in Weirs Beach.

The Cell on Wheels (or COW) is a mobile cell site that enhances wireless capacity — allowing more customers to concurrently place calls, exchange messages, and download content.

Verizon Wireless maintains a fleet of portable transmitters to support its network when highly populated events, or weather disasters such as a hurricane or major flood, suddenly stimulate increased wireless voice and data usage.

"The presence of a mobile COW will enhance our network capacity during the event," said Richard Enright, director of network performance for Verizon Wireless New England. "We're constantly investing, engineering and deploying resources to stay ahead of growing demand for our products and services."

Verizon Wireless has invested $37 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. Across New England, the company invested $318 million in 2006 alone for its regional wireless network build-out.

Quick Facts on the Cell on Wheels (COW)

• The temporary cell site is equivalent to the highest capacity stationary site presently available in the Verizon Wireless network — able to process thousands of calls every hour.
• The trucks are specially-equipped with $500,000 in sophisticated mobile equipment.
• The 25,000 lb. vehicle features a 55 ft. retractable mast. In the interest of emergency preparedness, the vehicle is fully self-contained with equipment, fuel, electrical generators, food, water, cots, etc.

Verizon Wireless' team of real-life Test Men and Women, backed by the company's network operations team, test and re-test performance and durability of the wireless network year round. Nationally, the network test team — referred to as baseline engineers — drives 98 specially-equipped vehicles almost 1 million miles every year to test wireless call quality and reliability. Vehicles are equipped with computers that automatically make more than three million voice call attempts and more than 16 million data tests annually on Verizon Wireless' network and the networks of other carriers.

More information about Laconia Motorcycle Week, held from June 9th —17th in Weirs Beach (just outside of Laconia, NH), can be found at: http://www.laconiamcweek.com/.  

B-ROLL:
B-Roll and high-quality still photographs of Verizon Wireless' mobile cell sites can be found at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.  

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 60.7 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 66,000 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.

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