Verizon Wireless

History

In September 1999, American phone company Bell Atlantic and U.K.-based Vodafone Airtouch PLC proposed they would create a new wireless phone service joint venture valued at $70 billion. The joint venture was being created as Bell Atlantic underwent a merger with GTE Corporation. In April 2000, the companies announced that the Bell Atlantic-GTE merger would take the name Verizon and that the Bell Atlantic-Vodafone wireless unit would be called Verizon Wireless (legally Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless). Verizon Communications owned 55 percent of Verizon Wireless while Vodafone retained 45 percent ownership. Regulators with the Federal Communications Commission approved the Bell Atlantic-GTE merger June 16, 2000, creating the largest wireless company in the U.S. Verizon Wireless held this market position until Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless Services in 2004.

Throughout the 2000s, Verizon acquired several wireless phone companies and assets across the country, including West Virginia Wireless in 2006. The advantage is being on a less congested network; Ramcell in 2007; Rural Cellular Corporation and SureWest Communications, both in 2008. Also in 2008, Verizon struck a deal to buy Alltel for $5.9 billion in equity while assuming $22.2 billion worth of debt. The deal finalized January 9, 2009, again making Verizon Wireless the country's biggest cellphone network. As per the agreement, Verizon sold rural wireless properties across 18 states to AT&T. Those properties were in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. Verizon's acquisitions continued in the 2010s, including the purchases of some Plateau Wireless markets in 2012 and Golden State Cellular's operator in 2014.

Majority owner Verizon Communications became sole owner of its wireless business in 2014, when it bought Vodafone's 45 percent stake. Vodafone received $58.9 billion cash, $60.2 billion in stock and $11 billion in other transactions. An article in The New York Times estimated Verizon Wireless' valuation at about $290 billion.

In late 2014, it became known that Verizon Wireless uses deep packet inspection for server-side insertion of a customer-unique ID field ("X-UIDH") into all unencrypted HTTP headers. The mechanism has been referred to as "supercookie" or "perma-cookie", although it is not technically a cookie in that it does not store information on the customers device and is transparent to the user. It can not be averted with common mechanisms like ad-blockers; however it can not be inserted into encrypted HTTPS and VPN connections. Verizon advertises the system to marketing partners. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has called on Verizon to terminate the program, calling it a "profound violation of trust", expressing concern over abuse by third parties, and questioning the legality of Verizon modifying their users' outgoing data without offering them the possibility of a full opt-out. In January 2015, Verizon announced they would give customers the option of opting out, and as of April 1, 2015, Verizon now allows customers to opt-out either online or calling a special phone number.

In August 2016, Verizon hired Ronan Dunne, the former head of British provider O2, as the new president of its wireless business.

In September 2016, Comcast confirmed that it planned to launch a mobile service, using Verizon's network as an MVNO, in mid-2017.

In February 2017, in the wake of competition from Sprint and T-Mobile, and initiatives to expand the capacity and improve the quality of its network by using macrocells and supporting carrier aggregation, Verizon announced that it would bring back an "unlimited" data plan (subject to throttling after 22 GB of usage). Verizon's decision not to restrict the bitrate of video services prompted Sprint and T-Mobile to remove similar restrictions from their own plans.

In March 2017, Verizon announced that all their Android phones will have AppFlash, to help users find content and services across different apps. Critics spoke harshly against it.

Network

Verizon Wireless operates a 4G LTE network, which, as of January 2016, covers about 98 percent of the U.S. Before their LTE network was launched, they operated an exclusively CDMA2000 network (the other major CDMA2000 carrier in the US being Sprint). Verizon began its initial tests for the 4G LTE network in 2008 in order to move from older-generation mobile communications technologies to the emerging global standard. In December 2010, Verizon Wireless launched a fledgling 4G LTE network in 39 markets. By December 2011, only a year after launch, 200 million Americans were covered with 4G LTE, and 190 markets were covered. As of 2016, 98% percent of the U.S. is covered with LTE, and 92% of all data traffic is on LTE.

In 2012, the service provider bought spectrum from the country's biggest cable companies, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to improve its data network across the U.S. The new capacity allowed Verizon to launch what it calls XLTE (LTE on Band 4) in 2013, providing more capacity in congested and well-populated markets.

Because 4G LTE is a data-transmitting network, when it launched, Verizon customers' voice calls were still carried over the company's CDMA2000 network, which was developed for 3G cellphones. In September 2014, Verizon launched voice over LTE (VoLTE); this allowed voice calls to transmit via the data-only LTE network. This also allows for simultaneous voice and data services, something that is unavailable on traditional CDMA2000 calls. Along with VoLTE, Verizon also announced support for HD Voice, which provides higher quality audio for VoLTE calls, and native Video Calling for Android phones. In March 2016, Verizon enabled support for Wi-Fi Calling, which allows calls to be placed over a Wi-Fi Network. As of August 2015, nearly 4 million of Verizon's 103.7 million subscribers used VoLTE.

A report by RootMetrics on carrier performance in the first half of 2015 ranked Verizon's network as the best in overall national performance, network reliability, network speed, data performance and call performance. For the second half of 2015, RootMetrics's RootScore Report ranked Verizon Wireless No. 1 in overall performance, network speed, network reliability, call performance and data performance. Verizon Wireless and AT&T tied for first in text performance.

In September 2015, Verizon's chief information and technology architect Roger Gurnani stated that Verizon was planning to trial a 5G wireless network within 12 months, with "some level of commercial deployment" by 2017. In late-August 2016, Verizon officially announced that it had rolled out LTE Advanced services in 461 markets. The company promoted that the technology would allow at least 50% higher LTE data speeds on supported devices.

Radio frequency summary

The following is a list of known 2G, 3G, and LTE frequency bands which Verizon employs in the United States:

RootMetrics RootScore awards

Verizon has historically done well on RootMetrics RootScore Reports.

Apps

Verizon Wireless offers certain applications and services that are exclusive to its subscribers. Many of these apps are pre-loaded on Verizon devices—primarily Android smartphones. The company has received criticism for this practice, as users and critics have viewed the applications to be "bloatware" that are sometimes redundant to applications already included with the device's operating system.

The NFL Mobile app allows Verizon Wireless subscribers to stream National Football League games and NFL Network on their devices. While previously a subscription-based service, NFL Mobile was made free to all subscribers beginning in the 2015 NFL season. As part of an exclusivity agreement with the NFL, only Verizon Wireless subscribers may stream NFL telecasts to smartphones. As part of a similar deal that also granted the carrier title sponsorship of the series, Verizon also has exclusivity on phone streaming of Verizon IndyCar Series races via its official app.

The My Verizon app is used for account management, including checking usage statistics and managing the user's service plan and account features. Verizon Cloud, which allows photos, videos, contacts, messages and call logs to be synchronized online, was released in April 2013 initially for Android phones, followed the next month by a launch for iOS. Verizon Messages, otherwise known as Message+, is an alternate text messaging app that additionally allows messages to be synchronized between multiple devices. VZ Navigator is a subscription-based maps and navigation service which provides turn-by-turn navigation, crowdsourced traffic data, weather, events and entertainment listings, gas prices, roadside assistance, 2D and 3D views. The Verizon Support & Protection app provides technical support services, lost device location, and on Android, antivirus functionality.

Verizon Family Locator is a subscription-based service and app can be used to track the locations of family members on a map for up to 10 devices. Verizon Family Base allows parents to restrict when and how their children use their phones, view their children's contacts and lock the devices. Verizon also offers the GizmoPal, a wristband-worn phone for children that is restricted to only placing or receiving calls from one of two designated caregivers, and has GPS tracking.

Other Verizon Wireless apps include Field Force Manager, which allows employers to manage employees with GPS, management timesheets and oversee travel, Visual Voice Mail and Roadside Assistance.

Products and services

Verizon Wireless offers cellphones, home telephone, and Internet services through a variety of devices.

Wireless phone services

Verizon Wireless offers smartphones powered by Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Phone and BlackBerry OS. Its basic phones use Verizon's 3G network, while the smartphones use their 4G LTE network. The company offers different voice and data plans for its users.

Wireless home phone

Introduced in February 2011 as Verizon Wireless Home Phone Connect, Wireless Home Phone uses Verizon's cellular network rather than using traditional landline wires to provide home phone service.

Mobile Wi-Fi and broadband

Verizon Wireless sells Wi-Fi hotspot devices, including Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot AC791L and Jetpack MiFi 6620L. Verizon Wireless' home Internet services includes 4G LTE Broadband Router with Voice that can power a home's wireless network and connect up to 10 devices and a home phone.

LTE in Rural America

The LTE in Rural America Program (or LRA program), introduced in May 2010, covers 2.7 million potential users over 225,000 miles in 169 rural counties. Currently, 21 rural wireless carriers participate in the program. Under this program, partners lease spectrum from Verizon Wireless and connect to the company's network, and Verizon provides technical support and resources to help the rural wireless company build out its own 4G LTE network. The program extends the footprint of 4G LTE coverage for both the rural carrier and Verizon, as customers can take advantage of both networks. As of 2015, all LRA members have fully rolled out their 4G LTE networks.

Participants: