Verizon upgrades the network in Silver Valley Idaho

Engineers connect local cell sites with fiber cable. Upgrades:

• double capacity on the network, allowing more customers to do more things with their wireless phones;
• decrease latency, making activities on phones more responsive; and
• enable future growth of additional cell sites in the area

SILVER VALLEY, IDAHO – Residents and visitors in the Silver Valley area of Northern Idaho just got a boost to their network service. Verizon engineers recently completed an upgrade to the cell sites serving the area, deploying fiber cables to move data from local cell towers through the rest of the network. This upgrade doubles the amount of data cell sites can process, meaning more customers can connect to the network at the same time and can do more when they are connected – stream more movies, send more emails, and video conference with friends, family and colleagues more seamlessly. The upgrade also lowers latency for customers, meaning their devices will be faster to connect and respond, and it lays the infrastructure for additional cell sites coming to the area in the future.

“We know our customers rely on our network for work, for fun and to stay connected to the world around them,” said Phillip French, Vice President of Network Engineering and Assurance at Verizon. “Our goal is to provide them with the best possible service using the most advanced technology available. This is one of many steps we’re taking to provide excellent service to the Silver Valley area and we have much more planned for customers in this area.”

Fiber cables offer a far better way to move vast amounts of data across long distances quickly and economically. Fiber not only provides far greater capacity than past connections, it is more reliable, can manage packet-based IP, the basis of all Internet traffic, and fiber signals can travel longer distances. For Silver Valley customers this means more people doing more things faster on a more reliable network.

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night…

With recent severe weather in Northern Idaho, snow accumulations and ongoing freezing temperatures made the upgrade to fiber connections difficult and dangerous. Verizon engineers, unable to access the cell site with four-wheel drive vehicles and chained tires, relied on a side-by-side Off Highway Vehicle (OHD) to traverse the frozen area and gain access. Having access to these vehicles in Verizon’s fleet of vehicles is one of many ways Verizon prepares for extreme weather. Verizon’s network is built and fortified in anticipation of hurricanes, wildfires, ice storms, earthquakes and tornadoes, and Verizon’s engineers are prepared to keep people connected in all conditions.

“Our engineers are committed to maintaining and enhancing the Verizon network for our customers in any kind of weather,” said French. “We know our customers rely on our network and we will be there for them in the snow, the rain, and the storms.”