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Verizon Brings Wireless Broadband to Knoxville, Tenn.By DAVID R. BUTCHER, Assistant Editor, Customer Interaction Solutions
Building on its strategy to provide customers with “superior wireless services in the United States,” Verizon Wireless today announced the launch of two services in the Knoxville, Tenn., metropolitan area. One service, called BroadbandAccess, is developed for the consumer market; and the other, V CAST, is primarily for business customers.
BroadbandAccess BroadbandAccess is a national, wide-area wireless broadband Internet access service. The company's BroadbandAccess service, available to mobile professionals and enterprise customers, allows customers in the Knoxville metropolitan area to wirelessly connect at broadband speeds to the Internet via their laptop. Working with virtual private network (VPN) connections, business customers can use BroadbandAccess as an extension of their corporate LAN or intranet, allowing them to work from any location within the service’s coverage area, and to do so as if they were in the office.
BroadbandAccess, according to the company, 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 (Evolution Data-Optimized) technology, the network upon which the service runs, has its own data protection and authentication and is designed to work with a business' existing IT infrastructure and security solutions.
Verizon Wireless today also announced new pricing for its BroadbandAccess service: current and new customers with any voice plan can now get unlimited BroadbandAccess for $59.99 monthly access with a two-year customer agreement. For non-voice customers, BroadbandAccess is available for $79.99 monthly access for unlimited use with a one- or two-year customer agreement. The new pricing for voice customers on BroadbandAccess is available through December 31, 2005.
V CAST
The company’s second service announced today, V CAST is a wireless broadband multimedia service for consumers. 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 on their phones the following: 3-D games; favorite artists’ music videos and concert performances; short programs specifically designed for mobile phones; and other video content.
For $15 monthly access added to their Verizon Wireless calling plan, customers in Knoxville can get the V CAST VPak, which includes unlimited access to a broad range of more than 300 daily updated video clips from news, sports, weather and entertainment content providers. Unlimited basic, short content is included, but application download fees apply for 3-D 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. Verizon Wireless V CAST customers also receive monthly access and unlimited browsing on Verizon Wireless' Mobile Web 2.0 news and information service. For a limited time, customers who sign up for V CAST receive one month of service free.
Both BroadbandAccess and V CAST run on Verizon Wireless' EV-DO (Evolution Data-Optimized) network, which began commercial operation in 2003 and is now, according to the company, the only national wide-area wireless broadband network in the country. For both services, Verizon Wireless has expanded the EV-DO coverage areas several times already this year, and the network now covers 60 major metropolitan areas and 64 airports across the country. Both services are available today in Knoxville.
For more information, visit Verizon Wireless.
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David R. Butcher is Assistant Editor of Customer Interaction Solutions. To see more articles by David Butcher, please visit:
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