TRAVERSE CITY – Verizon Wireless said Monday it has expanded the national rollout of its high-speed wireless network across the rest of its Traverse City and Petoskey coverage area.

The multi-million dollar expansion includes the installation of

high-tech wireless hardware and software in wireless transmission sites

throughout the area.

That means the following cities, towns and points of

interest-in addition to the Grand Traverse Bay area-are now equipped with

Verizon Wireless’ high-speed wireless network: Alanson, Alden, Bay Shore,

Bay View, Benzonia, Beulah, Boon, Brutus, Cadillac, Carp Lake, Charlevoix,

Conway, Copemish, Eastlake, Eastport, Elberta, Elk Rapids, Filer City,

Frankfort, Honor, Interlochen, Kalkaska, Kewadin, Kingsley, Lake Ann, Le

Roy, Leelanau Shores, Levering, Mackinaw City, Mancelona, Manistee, Manton,

Mayfield, Mesick, Oden, Omena, Pellston, Petoskey, Rapid City, Reed City,

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, South Boardman, Stronach, Suttons

Bay, Thompsonville, Tustin and Torch Lake.

The expansion also provides continuous coverage along U.S. Route 131

from Mancelona south to Kalamazoo. Additionally, it includes the following

major roads:

— U.S. Route 31 between Charlevoix and Mackinaw City and U.S. Route 31

just north of Bear Lake to Torch Lake

— Michigan Road 115 from Cadillac to Benzonia

With BroadbandAccess, business customers, residents and visitors can

expect average download speeds of 600 kilobits per second (kbps) to 1.4

megabits per second and average upload speeds of 500 kbps to 800 kbps. That

means they can download a 1 megabyte email attachment-the equivalent of a

small PowerPoint(R) presentation or a large PDF file-in about eight seconds

and upload the same-sized file in less than 13 seconds.

BroadbandAccess also enables Verizon Wireless customers to download

files approximately 10 times faster than customers of wireless service

providers that use different broadly deployed network technologies.

Furthermore, customers who travel outside the enhanced BroadbandAccess

coverage area with an EV-DO device will switch seamlessly to the company’s

NationalAccess service.

V CAST: Video and Music

The company’s wireless broadband network also enables its V CAST

multimedia services, which offer customers the ability to download

full-song tracks, play cutting-edge 3D games and stream video clips

straight to the handset with top transmission speeds. With content updated

daily, customers can watch dozens of on-demand videos, including breaking

news, weather updates, sports highlights and the hottest entertainment

clips.

For more information, click on VerizonWireless.Com

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