Verizon Wireless Expands Wireless Broadband to Greater San Francisco Bay Area; Delivers BroadbandAccess Wireless Internet Service and V CAST Multimedia Service to Nine Bay Area Counties

Business Wire, Oct 24, 2005

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Verizon Wireless today announced it has expanded its wide-area wireless broadband network throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, giving customers as far north as Healdsburg and as far south as Gilroy unprecedented access to the nation's largest high-speed wireless broadband network in the U.S. Verizon Wireless' EV-DO (evolution-data optimized) network provides customers with access to two award-winning services: BroadbandAccess, the largest wide-area wireless Internet access service available in the nation, and V CAST, the nation's first wireless broadband multimedia service for consumers.

"The expansion of our high-speed wireless broadband network throughout the Greater Bay Area gives mobile professionals and consumers access to critical business information, as well as news and entertainment, when and where they need it," said Rich Garwood, Northern California/Nevada regional president for Verizon Wireless. "Now it's possible for people to have continuous wireless broadband Internet access while they are working in the field, commuting in a van-pool, or entertaining the kids with VCAST during a road trip."

Verizon Wireless' high-speed wireless broadband network now covers more than 140 million Americans in 171 metropolitan markets(a) -- including nine San Francisco Bay Area counties -- and 68 primary airports(b) coast to coast. Verizon Wireless was first to deliver wide-area wireless broadband services to the San Francisco Bay Area, launching EV-DO at the three major Bay Area airports last summer, and in the core of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento by September. With today's launch, BroadbandAccess and V CAST are available throughout San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties. The expansion also provides contiguous wireless broadband coverage along the heavily traveled Interstate 80 corridor, which connects the Bay Area and Sacramento. For a map of BroadbandAccess and V CAST coverage, please visit www.verizonwireless.com.

BroadbandAccess

The company's nationally recognized BroadbandAccess service, available to mobile professionals and enterprise customers, allows Bay Area customers to connect wirelessly to the Internet via their laptop at broadband speeds for a convenient way to conduct business. The nation's largest and fastest wide-area wireless broadband service, BroadbandAccess is faster than any competing wide-area wireless data service. With BroadbandAccess, customers can 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.

"Mobile professionals can enjoy true mobility with the speed, security, simplicity and coverage of our BroadbandAccess service throughout the Greater Bay Area, as well as when they travel throughout the U.S.," said Garwood. "Verizon Wireless' EV-DO network is the nation's largest high-speed wireless broadband network, giving BroadbandAccess customers a superior, secure wireless data experience while away from the office."

Working with virtual private network (VPN) connections, business customers 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.

In an effort to bring the speed and mobility of Verizon Wireless' BroadbandAccess to more of its customers, Verizon Wireless is offering a promotional cost-savings of 25 percent for its voice customers. Verizon Wireless customers with a new or existing voice plan can receive unlimited BroadbandAccess for $59.99 monthly access with a 2-year customer agreement. The promotional savings is valid through January 5, 2006. For non-voice customers, BroadbandAccess is available for $79.99 monthly access for unlimited use with a new one- or two-year customer agreement. For more information on BroadbandAccess from Verizon Wireless, visit www.verizonwireless.com/broadbandaccess.> V CAST

Verizon Wireless' V CAST service enables consumers to access short video content on-demand, including 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 mobisodes (short programs specifically designed for mobile phones), and other video content right on their V CAST phones. For a list of all videos and 3D game entertainment available on V CAST, visit www.getvcast.com.