BIRMINGHAM, May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- In its ongoing effort to provide the best wireless service in Alabama, Verizon Wireless, owner and operator of the nation's most reliable wireless network, has completed a major expansion of its network added more than 40 new cell sites in the first quarter of this year. The primary focus of the expansion now covers two of the most heavily traveled routes in central Alabama. Customers traveling along I-65 from Birmingham to Montgomery including the cities of Jemison, Thorsby and Clanton will now have continuous coverage along their route. In addition, those traveling on Highway 280 from Birmingham to Auburn will also benefit from the expansion and experience enhanced coverage between the cities. Additional cities included in this network expansion are Talladega, Pell City, Sylacauga, Alexander City and Childersburg.

The I-65 corridor expansion includes coverage along I-65 and US Highway 31 throughout Chilton County, as well as many wooded areas and rivers that provide great vacation spots during the spring and summer. The Highway 280 coverage, which sees thousands of travelers per work week and hundreds of thousands of travelers during football season, will now have access to America's most reliable network. This coverage area also includes nearby Lake Martin and the Auburn University Campus.

With this latest expansion announcement, now is the perfect time for wireless consumers to be their own test man, or woman, by "taking the Verizon Wireless network for a spin" with a 30-day Test Drive. Verizon Wireless is the only major carrier to offer a 30-day Test Drive of its network. If at any point during the 30-day Test Drive customers are not satisfied with their experience, they can take their number to another wireless carrier and Verizon Wireless will refund their money for voice calls, equipment, activation fee and taxes, and release them from their contract without an early termination fee. "Test Drive represents the confidence we have in our network," said Jeff Mango, president - Alabama/Georgia Region for Verizon Wireless. "We have consistently invested in and focused on delivering the most reliable network and now customers have the opportunity to try it risk free. We're certain the majority will stay with us because of the experience will be superior."

In addition to the ability to test the coverage expansion, these corridors deliver Verizon Wireless' next generation high-speed wireless broadband network, CDMA 1x Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision A (Rev. A) technology, which gives customers the ability to receive faster speeds and upload files five to six times faster than before. The enhanced wireless broadband network provides Verizon Wireless customers with data uplink speeds significantly faster than the company's award-winning national EV-DO network, which the company rolled out in several cities across Alabama in 2006 and is currently available in Montgomery.

The company's flagship business data service, BroadbandAccess, will run faster and more efficiently with the new central Alabama network enhancement and expansion. Customers in enhanced coverage areas can take advantage of upload speeds that are five to six times faster than with the company's existing wireless broadband network, plus interact with Web-based applications with improved latency for a better customer experience. For example, BroadbandAccess customers in enhanced wireless broadband coverage areas can expect average download speeds of 450-800 kilobits per second (kbps) and average upload speeds of 300-400 kbps, which translates to the ability to download a 1 Megabyte e-mail attachment - the equivalent of a small PowerPoint(R) presentation or a large PDF file - in less than 15 seconds and upload the same size file in less than 25 seconds. The enhanced network coverage areas allow Verizon Wireless customers to download files approximately six times faster than customers of wireless service providers who use non-EV-DO technology.

Verizon Wireless has invested $35 billion in the last seven years - $5 billion on average every year since the company was formed - to increase the coverage and capacity of its national network and to add new services. In the Alabama/Georgia region, the company has invested nearly $100 million to date in 2007 to expand and enhance its wireless network.

For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to http://www.verizonwireless.com/.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 60.7 million customers. The largest US wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, NJ, with 66,000 employees nationwide. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone . Find more information on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com/. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

CONTACT: Caran Smith of Verizon Wireless, +1-678-339-4891,
Caran.Smith@VerizonWireless.com; or Holly Shepard Loller of O2 Ideas Public
Relations, +1-205-949-9494, Holly@o2ideas.com, for Verizon Wireless

Web site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/