$250,000 Station Wagon Debuts
18 August 1999
$250,000 Station Wagon Debuts on Washington/Baltimore Roads; Bell Atlantic Mobile Test Vehicle Ensures High Quality Network Performance SILVER SPRING, Md., Aug. 18 -- Wireless customers all want
one thing: clear service and good coverage, regardless of the routes they
travel -- along the Beltway, through tunnels, in the city, at the beach, in
the Metro, and around the hilly terrain of the MidAtlantic. In this fiercely
competitive market, with five wireless companies constantly striving to win
new customers, the hottest prices may be important, but savvy consumers
increasingly demand high quality for their calls. That's why Bell Atlantic
Mobile has rolled out its secret weapon in the battle for wireless network
superiority in the Washington/Baltimore area.
(http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990818/DCW015 )
It's a souped-up station wagon, loaded with $250,000 worth of
sophisticated equipment, traveling the region to objectively measure the
service quality of all competing analog and digital wireless providers.
Simply put, it's quality assurance on wheels.
Bell Atlantic Mobile's drive-testing station wagon is on the road
traversing the region, logging 2000 miles each month. The test vehicle
collects data on call completion and call quality for all wireless providers
in the area. Drive tests are conducted by Bell Atlantic Mobile to stay ahead
of the competition.
Bell Atlantic Mobile will invest more than $750 million in its network
company-wide this year. Based on the data gathered in drive tests, many recent
network enhancements have been made throughout the Washington/Baltimore
region, including increasing call capacity, coverage and data services.
"Network reliability is at the core of wireless service and the most
important thing to customers," said Gary Schulman, regional president for Bell
Atlantic Mobile in Washington/Baltimore. "But attractive pricing and high-
tech phones are only as good as the network that delivers the service, and we
must keep up with growing customer demand. We're seeing an amazing increase
in digital traffic on our Washington/Baltimore network every week."
With five different competitors operating on four different technological
platforms, measuring the reliability of each network -- fairly and
consistently -- is no small task. In fact, the computerized monitoring
equipment and software that allow network engineers to simultaneously compare
all networks has only recently become available.
As a Bell Atlantic Mobile engineer steers the way along the region's
busiest roadways, an array of portable wireless phones chirp with pre-recorded
voices and computer equipment drones on in the cargo area of a stealth-like
station wagon. Each month, thousands of wireless calls are continuously
dialed from the car, recorded and stored for analysis. The tests determine if
a call goes through on the first attempt, if a call is dropped, and the sound
quality of connections.
Protruding from the car's roof, like quills on a porcupine, are 15
antennas strategically located to give each wireless phone inside the car an
equal chance of picking up the signal from the service provider it monitors.
Schulman said monitoring the performance of the company's network using
the new equipment challenges Bell Atlantic Mobile to exceed its own benchmarks
and strive be the best wireless service provider in the area.
"At Bell Atlantic Mobile, our number one goal is customer satisfaction,"
Schulman said. "That means providing customers with a network that allows
them to connect and complete their calls when and where they want.
"With that in mind, our strategy is two-fold. We will continue to invest
in and enhance the performance of our network and, secondly, continue to focus
on providing outstanding local customer service with the goal of once again
winning the J.D. Power and Associates Award for overall customer
satisfaction," Schulman concluded. "The customer, not the equipment, is the
ultimate judge."
In the Washington/Baltimore market, Bell Atlantic Mobile was named leader
in overall customer satisfaction among wireless users, according to the
prestigious J.D. Power and Associates 1998 U.S. Wireless Customer Satisfaction
Study(SM).
Bell Atlantic Mobile owns and operates the largest wireless network in the
East, covering 120,000 square miles, and the largest chain of retail outlets
devoted exclusively to wireless voice, data and paging. Based in Bedminster,
NJ, Bell Atlantic Mobile has 6.6 million customers and 8,000 employees from
Maine to Georgia and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest.
Through its "Wireless at Work_" community service program, the company uses
its technology to help individuals and communities improve security and
emergency communications. Bell Atlantic Mobile's parent, Bell Atlantic
Corporation is one of the world's largest wireless communications
companies, with domestic operations in 25 states and international investments
in Mexico, Europe and the Pacific Rim. For more information on Bell Atlantic
Mobile visit: http://www.bam.com; on global operations visit:
http://www.bellatlantic.com/worldwide.
