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Verizon's Wireless Road Warriors
Joey Patterson writes "CNN has an article about how Verizon Wireless uses technicians who drive around the country in station wagons filled with wireless gear to look for holes in the company's cell phone network and analyze the service of its competitors. This program isn't cheap (the cars cost $270,000 and $15/mile to operate), but it definitely helps Verizon find out where they stand relative to their competitors."
Hm... since I suppose this thread will be filled with a ton of "verizon rules/verizon sucks" posts, I might as well chip in my 2 cents.
Basically, the coverage is excellent -- I've been covered from San Francisco to Rocky Point (Sonora) to Toronto to Boston. Basically the only time I lose coverage altogether is underground. I used to have analog-only in southwest Michigan, but a quick roaming-software upgrade fixed that; I think now they're piggybacking on sprint's network here, whereas they weren't before.
That said, Verizon leaves a TON to be desired in the customer service department. The reason I bought my phone is because I've truly been traveling across the country for the last year. Trying to change billing addresses is a HUGE hassle; Verizon was cobbled together from 3-4 disparate wireless companies across the country, and it still shows. You have to get a totally new account number when you move, and sometimes you get double-billed for up to a month.
That, and you're basically not allowed to move out of their "preferred market" areas. My new address was about 20 miles south of the Verizon market limits in SW Michigan, same area code and everything, and they were adamant about not allowing me to change my address to that "uncovered" location (note: digital service works just fine here). Long story short, I ended up using a friend's address and paying all my bills online; it's not perfect, but I'm getting along.
So, yeah. it doesn't surprise me that verizon has all these techs in trucks all over the country; their coverage shows it. Now if only they'd hire that clever IBM basketball team to integrate their billing across the nation.
You'd think they would be able to do this from their home office - except for the part about testing each of their competitors signal at the same point. Do they really need to do that though? What they should be doing is comparing signal strengh to usage, and concentrate on making the high usage areas have a good signal, regardless of their competitors.
When I commuted across the Bay Bridge, there was a gap in the Sprint services on the bridge that lasted no more than 50 yards, but it would always drop your call. I'm sure that's one of the heaviest populated gaps in service in the country, yet it went uncovered for years.
All the cell company's have lousy coverage out here in the west. No one wants to spend the money, especially considering we've got fewer people, and much less Congressional representation.
u smap_ 492f2.gif
Can't get Cable modem, because there's no cable.
Can't get DSL -- too far from the phone company's POP.
Can't get better than 34.4 modem connection, because the lines are sooo old.
Can't get cell covereage, because there's no cell towers.
Can't get cell towers, because there's no customers.
Can't get customers, because there's no cell coverage.
Look at:
http://www1.sprintpcs.com/media/Assets/Maps/
and see just how much uncovered area there is out west.
You should never rely on any technology, especially cell phones, while in the backcountry.
There is no replacement for people trained in first aid and proper supplies.
The last thing I would ever take into the backcountry with me is my cell phone. That is one of the reasons I go *to* the backcountry - to get away from all of that stuff.
I am also trying to figure out why you were backpacking with a ham radio, but I suppose that is just me.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
Wow! They bought SIXTY vans? At TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THOU each? Why, that's 16.2 MILLION dollars! Big bucks for sure!
They're spending a whopping 0.025% of their revenue (67.2 billion) or $0.52 per customer (31 million wireless customers) to see whether their customers are actually getting what are paying for.
Be still my heart!
(Say, I wonder how much they spent on the television advertising showing those technicians?)
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Ah yes... but did they have the wisdom and connections to turn it into a newstory covered by cnn and picked up by slashdot.