Verizon Wireless on Thursday announced it has launched its 3G wireless broadband network in Victoria, Texas. The carrier will offer local customers its BroadbandAccess high-speed Internet access (wirelessly enabled via a laptop card) and V CAST, a multimedia music and television entertainment service available on certain mobile handsets. The carrier already has Texan 3G deployed in Austin, the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, the Houston-Beaumont area and San Antonio.
The expansion is the latest in a flurry of EV-DO upgrades from the carrier, which offer typical connection speeds of 400kbps -700kbps. Verizon has invested $30 billion into its network in the last six years to increase coverage and capacity.
In Florida, Verizon also is building on an existing 3G footprint. It just announced availability of the wireless broadband network in the core areas of Lakeland, to cover an additional 300 square miles and more than 50,000 residents in St. Johns County between Tampa Bay and Orlando, which already have 3G available. Earlier this year, the network also was launched in Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties and is available throughout most of Southwest and Southeast Florida, and in the Tallahassee market.
Other recently announced markets include the Greater Birmingham, Ala., area – Birmingham is the first city in Alabama to join the company's EV-DO broadband network. Idaho also recently joined the network when Verizon turned up the Greater Boise area in August.
Verizon’s broadband data network was first introduced two years ago in 14 markets and now covers multiple markets in 31 states and the District of Columbia, roughly half the U.S. population. Besides offering wireless Internet access, 3G enables the V CAST service, launched late last year, which gives customers access to short video content, 3D games and other lifestyle services, such as news, weather, sports and entertainment programming on demand. It also provides access to more than 1.4 million songs for download to the handset.
Verizon Wireless www.verizonwireless.com
