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Verizon Employees Donate Supplies to Assist Area Schools

Verizon employees from 19 work sites across Massachusetts collected supplies to donate to local schools and nonprofit organizations from Andover to Springfield during a recent Tools for School drive.

These employees were among Verizon employees at 372 company locations throughout the country who took part in the two-week campaign to collect new pens and pencils, rulers, crayons, backpacks, and other items children need to start the school year. In all, employees donated an estimated $300,000 worth of supplies to more than 300 schools and nonprofits across the U.S Read more

Verizon stand-alone High Speed Internet for Students

Just in time for the start of the new college year, students can take advantage of special pricing from Verizon for its High Speed Internet plans, which boost connectivity and save money.

Students and other Web surfers in Verizon’s Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., service areas can now order a nine-month broadband plan with rates starting as low as $26.99. Read more

Verizon FiOS TV Customers Watch Movies Before Disney Channel Premiere

Once again, Verizon FiOS TV video-on-demand customers will get a first look at the summer’s hottest new movie from Disney Channel. The highly anticipated film, “The Cheetah Girls One World,” will begin premiering Tuesday, Aug. 19, on FiOS TV’s Disney Channel on Demand - three days ahead of the movie’s Disney Channel premiere on Aug. 22 Read more

Verizon gets Visual Voicemail

For those of you looking for an alternative to your voicemail, you can be pleased that users on Verizon will now be able to have Visual Voicemail on your Voyager.

Voyager users who are running software version VK10KV09 will have the ability to watch and listen to your messages without dialling that *86 each time, a feature that iPhone users have been enjoying for a while now.

The application itself is free, but to use the service will cost $2.99 per month not including data charges. For those of you without a VCAST plan, look away as you will be charged $1.99 per MB. So careful use is advised unless you want to end up with a whopping bill. The App also allows you to store 40 messages for 40 days and have 10 separate greetings based on caller-IDS which is very useful.

Since the service isn’t entirely free, it may not please many of you Voyager users out there, but at least it’s good that they are looking to improve things for the future.

Source: Read

Blackberry Thunder Vs Apple iPhone in October?

There have been reports that the upcoming touchscreen Blackberry Thunder will be released in the US and that it will be competing against Apple’s Iphone.

These rumours state that US mobile operator Verizon is planning a head to head with Apple’s product when the iPhone gets released on the 13 October in the US. It was further evidence that this will be backed up , when there was an image released from a timetable from Verizon showing the model number of Blackberry’s new phone, the 9530 as being on schedule for an October release.

The new touchscreen from Blackberry is expected to remain a Verizon exclusive in the US, with reports saying it will become a Vodaphone exclusive in the UK.

It looks like fans of both phones will see a busy October if everything appears to be true, which phone are you going to buy? Stay tuned for more news.

Source: Read

Verizon avoids union workers strike: 10.5 percent wage increase

Verizon has managed to avert a strike with union workers after agreeing a new three-year deal. In the new deal workers will get a 10.5 percent wage increase over the next three years.

This new pay deal has come to the relief of thousands of phone customers in Long Island, as the strike could have disrupted their service.

Verizon and the Communications Workers of America were working hard to avert this strike for two days, as talks between the two sides had stalled. The two sides could not agree on subcontracting jobs and organizing nonunion workers.

Bob Morrow, executive vice president of CWA local 1108 had said “There definitely would have been service interruptions, but thank God it didn’t get to that.”

Verizon executive Marc Reed had said that this new deal will allow the company to compete for customers while they are still able to continue to provide their employees with a package of competitive wages and benefits.

Morrow has now praised the work of the negotiators for brokering this pay deal. The deal will also, reclassify hundreds of temporary workers as full-time employees. Hundreds more nonunion workers will now become part of the Communications Workers of America.

The new deal will also allow workers to keep their fully paid health benefits for both active and retired worker of Verizon. However; workers hired after August 2 will have to contribute to their retirement health care.

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Verizon extends deadline with two unions

Verizon, one of the biggest telephone companies in the US, have managed to extend the deadline involving contract negotiations with two unions, which has averted the strike which was seen to be imminent.

It now appears that talks will continue between the two unions, with spokesman for the unions Rand Wilson adding, “a last-minute proposal with substantive enough to give people confidence to move forward.” The main issue between the two is about a contract which affects about 65,000 employees which accounts to 28 percent of Verizon’s workforce. It’s clear a solution is needed if Verizon are going to achieve their aim of installing high-speed fiber-optic Internet lines in 18 million homes by 2010, it doesn’t look likely if the company doesn’t solve this problem swiftly.

A spokesman for Verizon has commented on the recent news and stated, “We have trained managers and have other contingency plans. For people needing new installations or repairs, there could be some delays.”

Whatever the current issues surrounding the company may be, they still have major plans in the next few years as they aim to spend $23 billion into its fiber-optic expansion-plans which they hope will attract new business opportunities while decreasing competition from other cable providers.

To read the full article on this story, follow the link below.

Source: Read

FCC’s Comcast Decision: Statement from Verizon

The following is a statement by Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president of public affairs, policy and communications, on the Federal Communications Commission’s vote today on the complaint by third-party organizations against Comcast for allegedly degrading peer-to-peer applications on its network:

“Consumers want a quality Internet experience. That requires a combination of industry investment, innovation and self-governance along with appropriate government oversight to shine the light on any potential problems with individual practices or providers Read more

Marysville and Kenmore, Wash., Award Video Franchises to Verizon

Residents of Marysville and Kenmore are a major step closer to having an innovative, reliable and competitive alternative for their television services, thanks to unanimous votes by their respective city councils Monday (July 28) authorizing Verizon to offer its fiber-optic-powered FiOS TV.

Marysville and Kenmore are the third and fourth communities in the state to grant video franchises to Verizon, following similar votes earlier this month in Lynnwood and Everett. The company plans to begin offering FiOS TV in the communities later this year Read more

Verizon FiOS TV Service: More HD channels than rivals

America’s biggest city now has the biggest high-definition (HD) TV lineup as Verizon today begins selling FiOS TV service to customers in New York City. As FiOS TV is launched here, the service will offer 100 HD channels, giving customers more HD than Time Warner or Cablevision.

The new channel lineup will also be offered to existing FiOS TV markets in the New York metropolitan area, including parts of Long Island, the suburbs just north of the city, and northern New Jersey. Read more

Town Approves Video License for Verizon: Can Get FiOS TV

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. - Residents of Northborough are a major step closer to having another choice for their cable television services, thanks to a newly approved agreement authorizing Verizon to offer its FiOS TV service via the most advanced all-digital, fiber-optic network straight to customers’ homes.

The Board of Selectmen in Northborough granted a cable franchise to Verizon Monday (July 21), paving the way for video choice for thousands more Massachusetts households Read more

Verizon helps showcase Bollywood movies and music

Aspiring dancers can enter Bollypop, an online dance competition sponsored by Verizon to help showcase the growing amount of Bollywood movies and music videos the company offers its FiOS TV and V CAST customers.

The Bollypop (www.verizon.com/bollypop) contest is open to all U.S. residents and is maintained by Saavn, the largest digital distributor of South Asian movies, music videos, audio tracks and ringtones. Contest entrants can be either individuals or dance troupes (maximum of four performers) and must submit a video of any dance moves to one of 11 Bollywood songs Read more

LG Dare is a 3G phone on Verizon’s EVDO network

When you take a look at different carriers in the U.S. they seem to have handsets that are limited to just them, Sprint has the Samsung Instinct, AT&T has the iPhone, and now Verizon Wireless has their own, the LG Dare which is launched today. The main features of this phone are the touch-screen and having 3G, the high-quality video recording and the 3.2-megapixel camera, which is a better offering than the iPhone.

When phone companies like LG design a touch-screen handset like the Dare, they seem to all follow in the iPhones footsteps, and that is with a black slab design. The phone’s dimensions are 4.1 by 2.2 by 0.5 inches and weighs in at weighs 3.76 ounces. The 3-inch 262k-color touch-screen is a 240-by-400, and viewing your images which you have taken with your 3.2-megapixel camera looks superb.

If you thought that the new LG Dare was a smartphone you would be wrong, the handset runs a modified version of the operating system that is used on the Verizon LG Voyager, it is packed with a host of fun features. Some of these features include, a favorite’s display, this allows you to arrange your photos of your friends on screen, so you can speed dial just by selecting a friends picture. Ok I know what you are thinking, the HTC Touch also does this, and yes we know it does, but LG have managed to make it a cuter system.

According to PC Mag, they reckon that this is not the biggest feature of the LG Dare though; it is the camera especially the video camera. The LG Dare will record at 640-by-480 video at up to 120 frames per second; this is unheard of from a camera phone from the U.S. before. Taking still images is also a dream, the 3.2 megapixel camera uses a Schneider-Kreuznach lens, and this produces images greater than most camera phones in the U.S. today.
The LG Dare is a lot like the iPhone, as it uses an accelerometer, this means that when you turn your phone the orientation of the picture will also change. It seems as if the Dare is more like the iPhone than LG would like to think. However; things do take a turn for the worst when it comes to its Web browser, it uses Teleca’s Obigo. The software is clunky and becomes very frustrating, the browser is also on the slow side, and LG should have taken some pointers from the browsers used from some of their competitors.

The LG Dare goes on sale today June 26, and will cost $199.99, with a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year contract.

BlackBerry Smartphones better than laptops according Verizon

It seems that Verizon are ready to dump their laptop PC’s that their engineers use in favor of a Blackberry Smartphone. The company is to use their Network Application to use on the smaller device so that their engineers do not have to carry a bigger device that weighs about 8 pound, this will in time save money and make it easier for them to work. Verizon Partner Solutions has a force of 2,250 field technicians and they have seen some encouraging results from their technicians and customers since moving from the laptop to the Blackberry Smartphone. The engineers must love the fact that no longer will they have the big and bulky 8 pound devices, now they have the nice compact 5-ounce product.

The Blackberry that Verizon are using is a first-of-its-kind from the company and has been specially configured so that they can handle the same kind of computing processes that the company used to achieve with their laptops. They are a fraction of the size as well as weight and also in cost, which is something that can only be great for the company. The company’s field technicians need to use automated electronic systems as well as software applications which help to have a daily service workflow; this daily work consists of repairing services for their customers as well as helping to maintain things as well.

In the good old days the Verizon technicians used to go to remote location in the field, and had to use a laptop pc to work on fixing the problem, this must have been cumbersome and limiting, so now using a more portable device it make the whole work process much easier.

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Cisco, Verizon and Wal-Mart help U.S. troops in Iraq on Mother’s Day

With Mothers Day coming up fast, its easy to get so involved in your own business to forget about the people that are trying to protect our country on Mother’s Day. The people I am talking about are the U.S. troops in Iraq, they have family as well and it’s nice to see companies doing their bit to help our troops keep in contact on this special day. See the press release below for information on what some big brands are doing to help.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, Cisco, Verizon Business and Wal-Mart, along with SkyPort Global Communications and the USO (United Service Organizations), are helping to provide virtual family reunions for U.S. troops serving in Iraq. A lifelike, immersive video communications technology - known as Cisco® TelePresence - allows the troops to bridge the distance and speak to and see loved ones at home.

“Cisco TelePresence demonstrates the power of communicating and collaborating real-time as though you were meeting face-to-face,” said John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco. “Our companies are very proud to join together to honor and recognize our troops and their loved ones. We hope military families will take advantage of this technology and connect with our service men and women overseas during the upcoming holidays.”

Rheanna Kitch, whose husband is serving in Iraq, commented: “I loved feeling like my husband was sitting right across the table from me. It makes this deployment a little bit easier being able to see my husband on a huge screen. Even though my sweetheart is halfway around the world, when I am in that room he is right beside me.”

The collaborative effort to support the troops includes the use of Cisco TelePresence to allow troops based in Iraq to connect with friends and family members back home. The free connections, using Verizon Business’ Private IP network and a SkyPort satellite uplink, are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and link two remote bases in Iraq to two Wal-Mart stores: one located near Camp Pendleton in Temecula, Calif., and one located near Fort Drum in Evans Mills, N.Y. Two specially equipped family-gathering rooms were built in the Wal-Mart stores and opened April 2. They will be available through July 6, spanning the upcoming holidays of Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day and Independence Day.

“Verizon Business is proud of the technology we deploy to help members of the U.S. Armed Forces stay in touch with their families at home,” said John Killian, president of Verizon Business. “The women and men serving overseas make sacrifices every day, and we hope this effort will help them feel closer to their loved ones by being able to sit across from each other and talk - even though they are located at opposite ends of the world.”

Cisco TelePresence replicates face-to-face interaction so realistically that it feels as though everyone is in the same room, even though they may be thousands of miles apart. While videoconferencing has been intermittently available to service men and women, the Cisco TelePresence deployment represents the first lifelike communications of its kind between these particular troops and their families back home. Families from Camp Pendleton and Fort Drum are using the technology to reconnect with loved ones, see children and even hold virtual birthday parties.

“Getting to see my husband in Iraq really helps me,” said Mellisa Reynolds, who has used Cisco TelePresence in the Temecula, Calif. Wal-Mart to connect with her husband in Iraq. “It’s so comforting to go to the Wal-Mart store and be that close to him, as if he is right next to me. TelePresence makes it so much easier to communicate with him because I can see his facial expressions when he talks. You can’t see that in an e-mail or phone call.”

Rollin Ford, EVP and Wal-Mart’s chief information officer, said: “Wal-Mart is committed to supporting not only our troops but the entire military family, and we are proud to join with Verizon and Cisco to help connect military families with their loved ones serving in Iraq. Through TelePresence, our customers have the unique opportunity to support and connect with our men and women in uniform through a virtual face-to-face interaction.”

The Cisco TelePresence rooms are located at the Wal-Mart Store in Temecula, Calif. (32225 Highway 79 South, Temecula, Calif.) and at the Wal-Mart Store in Evans Mills, N.Y. (25737 US Route #11, LeRay, N.Y.)

Skyport has installed satellite ground links at two bases in Iraq where soldiers and marines can access a Cisco TelePresence system to have live conversations with family members and friends. This is the first example of Cisco TelePresence being deployed via satellite.

“We are honored to have been chosen by Cisco to participate in this effort to put our nation’s soldiers and marines in closer touch with the families they have left behind,” said Patrick Brant, president and CEO of Skyport.

Verizon Business bringing Europe and India together with Undersea Cable System

Verizon Business Tuesday (May 6) joined a consortium of 16 companies building a next-generation undersea optical cable system connecting Europe, the Middle East and India.

The new system, named the Europe India Gateway (EIG), is the third major submarine cable project Verizon Business has helped launch in the last four years and continues the company’s global network leadership in delivering more capacity, reliability and speed for the data, video and voice services of its multinational customers.

The 15,000-kilometer (9,000-mile) cable network system, expected to be completed in 2010, will connect three continents at a cost of more than $700 million (U.S.). It will have a design capacity of up to 3.84 terabits per second (Tbps).

“This new cable system will provide not only a second, diverse route from India to Europe, but also direct access to our network in Europe,” said Ihab Tarazi, Verizon Business vice president of global network planning. “Combined with our other network capabilities, we will offer our customers reduced latency (the time it takes data sent from its entry point in the network to reach its destination), reduced provisioning time and increased reliability.”

Verizon Business is a leader in developing undersea cable systems. The company is the only U.S.-based founding member of the Trans-Pacific Express Cable, which will provide the first high-speed direct link between the U.S. and mainland China when activated in July. Verizon Business also is the only founding U.S. partner in an existing Southeast Asia-to-Europe (via the Indian subcontinent) submarine cable called SEA-ME-WE-4 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-4).

The EIG will give Verizon Business customers a second, diverse landing in France. As with SEA-ME-WE-4, Verizon Business will operate a landing station in Marseilles that will connect directly with the company’s recently expanded ultra-long-haul network in Europe.

With the addition of the EIG, Verizon Business also plans to extend its industry-leading global mesh architecture to the Middle East and India. Meshing is network design that connects undersea cable systems on land, allowing for instantaneous rerouting of traffic in the event of multiple undersea cable breaks. Currently, the company operates a seven-way diverse mesh network between the U.S. and Europe and five-way diversity between the U.S. and Japan, with expansion to seven-way diversity to Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan planned for the second half of 2008.

Verizon Business continues to expand its partnerships and presence in the Middle East and India. Verizon Business earlier this year received licenses for international and national long-distance services in India and will offer a full range of services including international private-leased circuits with multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and Internet protocol (IP) services. The company already holds an Internet service provider license in India.

“As the world’s leading companies grow their presence in emerging market regions, they know they can rely on our leading global network to support their critical business applications,” said Tarazi. “Wherever they do business in the world, our customers know they can count on us to use our outstanding network capabilities to deliver business solutions.”

Verizon Business owns and operates a global fiber-optic network that spans six continents and has more than 485,000 route miles delivering services to customers in more than 150 countries and 2,700 cities throughout the world. The company is involved in more than 67 submarine cables worldwide.

Source - Verizon

Vodafone & Verizon take 4 Minutes with Timberland, Justin Timberlake, and Madonna

Its not everyday we get to hear a piece of news that includes cell phone companies Vodafone and Verizon, with the added mix of artists Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Timberland. Well that’s just what we got with Verizon and Vodafone announcing that they have teamed up with these artists to give phone users a piece of Madonna’s upcoming album “HARD CANDY.”

From yesterday Verizon Wireless customers were able to get a mobile underground remix of Madonna’s debut single “4 Minutes”, this full-song download was made available to them via V CAST Music and there was also an option for a ringback tone and ringtone download. The 4 Minutes single is/will be a massive hit thanks to being produced by Timbaland and In Residence (Verizon mobile producer), also because it includes the big talent of Justin Timberlake and Icon Madonna.

If you’re a Vodafone customer then you will be able to download the above song as long as you live in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Iceland, Greece, Turkey, Romania, New Zealand, Netherlands, India, Hungary and Germany…That’s a lot of people. If you are looking forward to buying Madonna’s “HARD CANDY” album, then you will not have to wait much longer as its out on April 28 or 29 in the U.S.

Madonna Hard Candy is on Amazon for $9.99, you can Pre-order now for release on April 29, 2008. The tracks included in the album include Voices, Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You, Spanish Lesson, Dance 2night, Beat Goes On, Incredible, She s Not Me, Miles Away, Heartbeat, Give It 2 Me, Candy Shop and of course 4 Minutes.

For people who have not heard the song “4 Minutes” by Madonna feat Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, you can watch the music video below thanks to YouTube. If you love the song then why not listen to it again for 4 Minutes.

Source: Read | Via Phones Review