History Verizon Wireless traces its roots to Bell Atlantic Mobile NYNEX Mobile Communications 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 Bell Atlantic Mobile and NYNEX Mobile Communications was created from Advanced Mobile Phone Service Inc which was a subsidiary of AT amp T created in 1978 to provide cellular service nationwide AMPS Inc was divided among the RBOCs as part of the Bell System Divestiture 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 comprise the t wo companies U S wireless assets Bell Atlantic Mobile 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 Verizon held that position until Cingular s acquisition of AT amp T Wireless in 2004 and again after their acquisition of Alltel in 2009 For the joint venture Verizon Communications owns 55 and UK based Vodafone Group formerly Vodafone AirTouch owns 45 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 Network Verizon Wireless is one of the two major U S carriers to use CDMA technology the other being Sprint Nextel Alltel also used CDMA before becoming part of Verizon Wireless Other regional carriers that use CDMA are U S Cellular Cricket and MetroPCS see List of United States mobile phone companies for more information Verizon supports the 3 generations of CDMA IS 95 1x and EV DO networks Verizon Wireless invests 8 billion annually to maintain and expand its nationwide CDMA network Verizon Wireless offers voice services as well as 3G data services such as wireless broadband based on EV DO Rev A 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 On June 30 2007 Verizon Wireless had completed the overhaul of the entire EV DO network to EV DO Rev A This enables PC Cards and certain phones to obtain theoretical peak download speeds of 3 1 Mbit s and upload speeds of up to 1 8 Mbit s The actual download and upload speeds vary due to a number of factors and users will typically see speeds close to 1 Mbit s down and 500 Kbit s up On 27 November 2007 Verizon Wireless announced plans to allow all cell phones compatible with their CDMA technology to run on their network Users of such phones are also allowed to use any application they wish However on September 20 2007 Verizon Wireless had announced a joint effort with the Vodafone Group to transition their networks to the 4G standard LTE and on November 29 2007 Verizon Wireless announced that they would start LTE trials in 2008 On December 9 2008 Verizon announced that they intend to build and begin to roll out a LTE network by the end of 2009 Adopting LTE would make for a gradual shift away from Verizon Wireless current use of CDMA technology because it is a completely different platform but would offer increased operability for users traveling worldwide On January 25 2009 Verizon Wireless released its first Femtocell called the Verizon Wireless Network Extender Verizon claims to operate America s Largest and Most Reliable Wireless Network covering approximately 290 million people LTE and Verizon Wireless During a Long Term Evolution developers conference held on May 13 2009 CEO Lowell McAdam clarified the schedule Verizon Wireless has envisioned for rolling out its fourth generation LTE network running at 700 160 MHz McAdam said the network will launch in 20 to 30 markets during the second half of 2010 It is still on track to launch two trial networks one each on the east and west coasts of the United States by the end of 2009 and the company will reveal exactly which markets those are closer to launch McAdam also revealed that devices that can access its LTE network will have swappable SIM cards similar to those found in today s GSM capable handsets or Japanese CDMA handsets However the SIM cards will only be swappable with other Verizon Wireless LTE certified hardw are McAdam said Verizon Wireless believes its LTE network will be capable of speeds ranging between 8Mbps to 12Mbps although its upper limits have been testing between 50mbps to 100mbps Advertising In 2000 Verizon Wireless advertised 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 or iN network The slogan for Verizon Wireless at that time was Join in Reminiscent of the slogan Join in was used in their marketing scheme up to this day i e iN calling iN messaging and even the toll free number 1 800 2 JOIN IN 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 Verizon test technicians In 20 05 Verizon Wireless added an army of network engineers into their commercials in conjunction with the test man and introduced the slogan It s the Network to emphasize their network quality Verizon Wireless still uses the slogan We never stop working for you from time to time especially on their website toll free number and shopping bags In 2008 Verizon Wireless sponsored Korean pop sensation Se7en further helping Se7en trademark his name in America and promote his U S debut single that was released in spring 2009 Also in 2008 Verizon Wireless began a new television advertising campaign with parodies of horror movies including The Shining with people trying to scare a main character with tales of a Dead Zone where calls cannot be made who calmly responds that he or she has Verizon and then the slogan appears Don t be afraid of Dead Zones In early 2009 Verizon Wireless officially dropped the IN campaign Previously calls between two Verizon Wireless subscribers were referred to as IN calling but will now be referred to as Mobile to Mobile calling With this change Verizon Wireless also renamed their prepaid service Verizon Wireless Prepaid from iNPulse to Prepay In mid 2009 when the markets Verizon acquired from Alltel began to transition to the Verizon Wireless brand web ads began to appear showing the test man with Chad the Alltel salesman character that has appeared on Alltel commercials for the past five years citation needed Late in 2009 Verizon began ads that made use of the iPhone There s an app for that slogan changing it to There s a map for that see below They began with maps showing large areas of the United States covered in red to represent Verizon s 3G service with very limited areas in blue to show 3G service for AT amp T which was required to use the full capabilities of the iPhone The ads progressively got more aggressive including one where the iPhone was placed on the Island of Misfit Toys In November 2009 Verizon Wireless offici ally released the Motorola Droid Analysts estimate Verizon sold between 100 000 and 200 000 Droids in its opening weekend the wireless carrier should sell a total of 765 000 Droids by year end according to Avian Securities forecast At this pace Droid which was released in early November would slightly trail the performance of the first Blackberry Storm which sold a million units by the end of January after going on sale just before Thanksgiving last year Content delivery systems This section does not cite any references or sources Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed December 2008 Get it now VCast and VZNavigator 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 ringtones music games applications and use instant messaging on a phone Users usually are unable to load content on the Verizon Wireless phones outside of Get It Now system this is done for financial reasons Verizon Wireless has exclusivity agreements with its Get It Now content providers this is a walled garden system Sometimes cell phone enthusiasts perform unsupported modifications to their phones or use 3rd party software to make the phone accept non Get It Now originated content or use free services that send ringtones through picture messaging like Mobile17 In 2008 Verizon Wireless announced that their Get It Now service will be renamed Media Center on all their future phones beginning with the LG EnV2 All applications through Get It Now Media Center are BREW based and the selection differs depending on what Verizon phone one is using Many first time mobile phone users freely access the internet through internet capable phones Mobile Web only to find that a sizable charge has been added to ther phone bill at month s end Verizon currently charges 1 99 USD per megabyte in 2009 downloaded into the phone from the internet This is called Megabyte Usage or Data Usage Whenever anyone accesses the internet the charge is incurred because in order to access the web web pages must be downloaded into the phone for viewing New customers are often confused on what activities incur a charge and which activities do not Visiting 50 web pages is a download of 3 MB A visit to Media Center Get It Now page incurs a charge even if nothing is bought downloaded Music games or ringtones downloads incurs the MB charge but Picture Video messaging MMS does not charge Whenever data is being downloaded into the phone a little phone icon with arrows going back and forth appears Blocks can be set by account owner to block specific types of downloads If a specific type of unlimited download is included in the customer s plan then the customer is charged a flat fee per month instead of per MB VZ Navigator Main article VZ Navigator Within Get It Now Verizon has implemented a GPS navigation application VZ Navigator that works for the most part like a standalone GPS unit Users can also locate businesses within their vicinity searching by category or business name Users can type in addresses and receive turn by turn directions to their destination V CAST Main article V CAST Also within Get It Now Media Center is V CAST Verizon Wireless high speed audio video on demand and entertainment delivery system V CAST Mobile TV Main article MediaFLO Verizon Wireless uses Qualcomm s MediaFLO technology to broadcast live TV to certain phones such as the LG Voyager A VCAST mobile TV subscription is required V Cast Music with RHAPSODY A subscription based service which allows access for 14 99 per month for unlimited song downloads to a person s computer using the VCAST with Rhapsody software This program also allow the user to sync the music with up to three different media devices examples mobile phones and mp3 playe rs The user has to authorize these devices through the VCast with Rhapsody software in order to sync the music However if the consumer wants to move the music from a digital medium to a physical medium example compact disc the consumer will need to pay 99 per song in order to move it to that physical medium Backup Assistant Backup Assistant is a white label product that backs up the mobile address books of Verizon Wireless subscribers The contacts are stored on My Verizon and can be edited and migrated to a new device if needed The monthly subscription for Backup Assistant is 1 99 but is waived for subscribers who register for online account management via My Verizon The technology for Backup Assistant is provided by FusionOne Inc Friends amp Family On February 16 2009 Verizon Wireless launched its new service called Friends amp Family in light of their recent acquisition of Alltel Wireless which had a similar service called My Circle With an eligible plan customers will hav e unlimited calling to a select group of numbers outside their standard mobile to mobile calling group including landlines This will give single line accounts up to 5 numbers to choose from on plans with 900 or more minutes and family plan accounts up to 10 numbers to choose from on plans with 1 400 or more minutes HopeLine Verizon Wireless collects no longer used wireless phones batteries and accessories in any condition from any wireless service provider Phones that can be refurbished are sold for reuse and those without value are disposed of in an environmentally sound way by way of ReCellular Inc Proceeds from HopeLine are used to provide wireless phones and cash grants to local shelters and non profit organizations that focus on domestic violence prevention and awareness Since HopeLine s national phone recycling and re use program was launched in 2001 Verizon Wireless Has collected more than 4 5 million phones Awarded nearly 5 million in cash grants to domestic violence agencies and organizations throughout the country Distributed more than 60 000 phones with more than 160 million minutes of free wireless service to be use
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