RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 30, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We know our customers across the country rely on us to keep them connected—when and where they need it most. To ensure our customers have the network experience they deserve, Verizon invests billions of dollars each year in our networks. Since 2015, in Virginia alone, Verizon has invested more than $2.6 billion to meet and exceed our customers’ growing needs and also build for the future.

Always Innovating Your life moves fast and so do we. To ensure we continue delivering the value and performance you deserve, we’re investing heavily in our networks and deploying the most innovative technology available in the industry today. These innovations include: 

  • Carrier aggregation which combines multiple bands of spectrum, maximizing speed and efficiencies.
  • 4x4 MIMO antenna technology which allows your device to use multiple antennae to boost data speeds.
  • Enhanced software like 256 QAM, which allows your phone to exchange larger amounts of information for significantly faster data speeds.
  • The combination of these three powerful technologies—4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM and carrier aggregation drive our LTE Advanced network, significantly impacting available capacity and data speeds for our customers in 1,100 U.S. cities today.
  • AWS-3 as well as other spectrum, made available through the decommissioning of CDMA technology, to add 4G LTE capacity for our customers.
  • Small cell deployment in cities across the country to support growing demand today and to lay the groundwork for our upcoming 5G network.
  • Fios Gigabit Connection, offering download speeds of up to 940 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 880 Mbps to almost the entire Fios footprint.
  • Continued replacement of aged copper wiring with more resilient fiber-optic technology in towns and cities along the Northeast coast. In 2017, we laid almost 7,000 miles of fiber-optic cables, which is like wrapping the moon around its equator. 
  • Interoperability with NG-PON2 technology, supporting up to 40G of total capacity and up to 10G speeds per customer, both upstream and downstream, over a single fiber.

What does this mean for you? “Consumers, businesses, first responders and local governments all want an ever-improving network experience—and we can deliver,” said Russ Preite, president – Southeast Market for Verizon. “Our consistent investment in the latest tech, year-round planning and industry-leading team of dedicated and passionate engineers ensure the best reliability, 4G LTE coverage, speed and streaming experience. And, it’s why we continue to have an overwhelming lead over the competition across the vast majority of third party tests.”

No matter how you test it, Verizon’s wireless network is the industry leader             In Virginia and nationwide, we are consistently recognized for providing a superior network experience by a wide range of independent third parties. According to RootMetrics by IHS Markit’s’ new National RootScore® Report * released in late July, Verizon’s wireless network was ranked #1 nationally for the 10 th consecutive time and in Virginia for the ninth consecutive time. And, that’s not all. Other third parties have shared their results in recent months. These include:

  • Verizon ranked highest wireless network quality performance in all six regions and, for the 21 st time in a row, received more awards than any other wireless provider according to the latest J.D. Power Wireless Network Quality Performance Study **
  • Best in video streaming, based on analysis of data collected nationally by Nielsen***
  • Verizon customers are much more likely to have a better LTE experience than customers of any other network, according to the P3 US State Connectivity Report ****
  • Verizon’s network download speeds were 20% faster in Virginia than the other three national providers’ according to Tutela 's real-world download speed tests taken in July 2018*****

Building the future 2018 is an exciting year for network innovations by Verizon including our launch of the first 5G wireless residential broadband internet service in four cities, Sacramento, LA, Houston and Indianapolis. By continuing to invest in our networks and delivering several technology firsts, Verizon is leading the way in transforming how we live, learn, work and play right here in Virginia and across the country .  To learn more about some of those improvements and about the work our engineers are doing, check out these videos on why we’re  Best For a Good Reason .

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York City, generated $126 billion in 2017 revenues. The company operates America’s most reliable wireless network and the nation’s premier all-fiber network, and delivers integrated solutions to businesses worldwide. Its Oath subsidiary reaches people around the world with a dynamic house of media and technology brands.

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*Rankings based on the RootMetrics by IHS Markit US National and, State 1H 2018. Tested with best commercially available smartphones on 4 national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of Verizon. Visit www.rootmetrics.com for more details.

**Verizon Wireless received the highest numerical score among wireless service providers in the J.D. Power 2017 (V1 & V2) & 2018 (V1 & V2) U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Studies rating it Highest Wireless Network Quality Performance across the Nation. 2018 V2 study is based on 36,320 total responses, measuring the network quality experienced by customers with wireless phones, surveyed January – June 2018. Your experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com

*** Based on Nielsen Video Network Scores using data collected nationally between 1.1.18 and 6.30.18

**** The data used by P3 was collected during the period of three months, from April to June, 2018 and comprises of 39,359,819,776 samples from 2,313,376 users.

***** Verizon customers received the best overall download speeds across the U.S., according to the study of United States’ mobile performance in July 2018 by Tutela, a widely installed network testing software that collects more than 2 billion network quality measurements every day in the USA.

Media contact: Kate Jay 678-339-4828 kate.jay@verizonwireless.com @kateharrisjay