Verizon Wireless Activates COLT For Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival In Oak Hill, New York

ALBANY, NY — In anticipation of a surge in wireless calls by music fans at this weekend's Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (July 17-20 on the Walsh Farm in Oak Hill), Verizon Wireless has beefed up its local network capacity by placing a temporary cell site near the festival. The Cells on Light Truck (or COLT) is a fully functional, generator-powered mobile cell site that enhances wireless capacity, allowing more customers to use their wireless phones concurrently to make calls, send and receive text and picture messages, surf the Web and download music directly to their phones. Laptop users will even be able to use BroadbandAccess, the company's wireless broadband service, to surf the Web from the festival site.

Fans who can't wait to get home to download the music they hear at the festival can use V CAST Music with Rhapsody to purchase and download songs over-the-air directly to their V CAST Music-capable phones. V CAST Music with Rhapsody gives users access to more than 5 million songs.

"During festivals and special events, traffic on our network can increase significantly," said Gene Fassett, executive director of network for Verizon Wireless' Upstate New York Region. "With the activation of this temporary cell site, our network is prepared to handle the expected increased activity as festival goers use their wireless phones and laptop computers."

The temporary cell site is part of Verizon Wireless' continuous effort to increase capacity and enhance the quality of its wireless voice and data network in New York State and across the country. Verizon Wireless has invested more than $45 billion since it was formed — on average, $5.5 billion every year -- to increase the coverage and capacity of its national network and to add new services.

Verizon Wireless' mobile cell sites are on constant standby to provide additional wireless network capacity and coverage in emergencies and at highly attended scheduled events.

B-Roll
B-roll and high-quality still photographs of Verizon Wireless' fleet of COLTs 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 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.

####