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Verizon Wireless 3G Broadband arrives in Greater Seattle
June 23, 2005
Verizon Wireless announced the rollout of two services in greater Seattle - one developed for the consumer market, the other primarily for business customers. V CAST, the 3G wireless broadband multimedia service for consumers, and BroadbandAccess, the fast wide-area wireless Internet access service, are both available today from Bellingham to Olympia. Both services run on the company's high-speed EV-DO wireless broadband network, which is available from coast to coast.
"The launch of our high-speed wireless broadband network in Puget Sound provides Verizon Wireless customers with state of the art mobile wireless technology," said Kelley Kurtzman, Pacific Northwest regional president for Verizon Wireless. "With V CAST, consumers can access the latest in multimedia programming to stay connected, informed and entertained via their wireless phones, and BroadbandAccess provides mobile workers full access to their corporate information, just as if they were attached via a high-speed wired connection, but with the freedom of true mobility."
V CAST
Verizon Wireless' V CAST service enables consumers to access short video content on-demand, viewing current news, weather, sports and entertainment programming. With V CAST, customers can also download and play cutting-edge 3D games, watch music videos and concert performances from favorite artists, view short video programs (mobisodes) specifically designed for mobile phones and other video content right on their phones.
For $15.00 monthly access added to their Verizon Wireless calling plan, customers in the Puget Sound area can get the V CAST VPak which includes unlimited access to a wide array of more than 300 daily updated video clips from leading news, sports, weather and entertainment content providers. Unlimited basic short content is included, but application download fees apply for 3D games, premium video short content, and all other Get It Now applications. There are no airtime charges to download, stream or watch V CAST content. Customers can also download, stream or watch premium short video content, available at additional cost, which includes music videos, select sports clips and mobisodes. Verizon Wireless V CAST customers also receive monthly access and unlimited browsing on Verizon Wireless' Mobile Web 2.0SM news and information service. For a limited time, customers who sign up for V CAST receive one month of service free.
BroadbandAccess
The company's BroadbandAccess service, available to mobile professionals and enterprise customers, allows customers in the Puget Sound area to connect wirelessly to the Internet via their laptop at broadband speeds, a convenient way to conduct business. BroadbandAccess enables customers to download a 1 Megabyte email attachment (for example, a small PowerPoint presentation or a large PDF file), or receive three digital pictures (each 400 x 600 pixels) in less than 20 seconds. Because EV-DO technology is backward compatible - a distinct advantage to using CDMA technology - customers who travel outside a BroadbandAccess coverage area with an EV-DO device will seamlessly switch to Verizon Wireless' existing NationalAccess service, which runs on the company's 1xRTT network.
"Services like BroadbandAccess are a great fit for the Puget Sound area given the wide variety of business and tech-savvy users here," said Kurtzman. "With BroadbandAccess our wireless customers will be able to stay connected via a secure, reliable high-speed data connection."
Business customers, working with virtual private network (VPN) connections, can use BroadbandAccess as an extension of their corporate local area network (LAN) or intranet, allowing them to work from any location within the BroadbandAccess coverage area, as if they were in the office. BroadbandAccess, with typical user download speeds of 400-700 kilobits per second (kbps), is ideal for downloading files and business-critical information residing behind corporate firewalls and for accessing e-mail, intranets and the Internet. BroadbandAccess' EV-DO technology has its own data protection and authentication and is designed to work with a business' existing IT infrastructure and security solutions.
BroadbandAccess is available for $79.99 monthly access for unlimited use with a one- or two-year customer agreement.
V CAST Phones and BroadbandAccess PC Cards
Customers can access V CAST on three hot new phones. The featured phone is the new LG VX8000 phone. With its full-motion short content with audio streaming and downloading and playback capabilities, the LG VX8000 offers customers a rich and rewarding interactive experience. The LG VX8000 is available for $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year customer agreement. V CAST customers can also check out the latest in news, entertainment and sports on the Samsung a890, which is $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year customer agreement, and the CDM8940 from UTStarcom Personal Communications (formerly Audiovox Communications Corp.) for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year customer agreement.
Verizon Wireless offers several PC Cards for BroadbandAccess customers, including the Kyocera KPC-650 and Novatel V620 cards. For a limited time, Verizon Wireless customers with unlimited use data plans can buy the BroadbandAccess Novatel card for $49.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year customer agreement or the Kyocera 650 aircard for $69.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year customer agreement.
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