PolicyBlog

Today, Verizon Wireless chief executive officer Lowell McAdam commented about the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan, applauding the FCC Chairman’s commitment to free up additional wireless spectrum. I thought I’d share the full statement here:  Verizon Wireless commends Chairman Genachowski for his vision and leadership in recognizing the critical importance of unleashing more spectrum to support the burgeoning growth of mobile broadband and his commitment to free up... Read More

The most important thing we offer? Our network.  When our network is attacked, or at risk of attack in a way that could harm our customers' ability to make and receive calls, or use wireless multimedia and data services, we jump to action. Recently, Verizon Wireless security and external experts detected attacks from an IP address associated with the 4Chan family of web sites that was disruptive to our customers and our network.  To protect both, we eliminated connectivity to the IP address. ... Read More

The 83,000 employees of Verizon Wireless are committed to improving the communities where we work and live.  Together with the generosity of our customers and even our competitors’ customers who donate their old cell phones to HopeLine®, our cell phone recycling and reuse program, we're able to make a difference in the lives of those affected by domestic violence. For the third consecutive year HopeLine received more than 1 million old cell phones. Since 2001, Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program... Read More

Verizon Wireless is passionate about ensuring consumer choice in the wireless sector. Customers still have all the choices they did before.  Verizon offers many ramps onto the Internet, including all search engines. If you love Google and don't want to use Bing, there are great options: 1) You can "mask" or hide the Bing icon from the webpage. Easy to do. 2) If you want to continue using Google or other search engines as an option, just:Perform the search from the provider’s web page (i.e.... Read More

We recently responded to the Federal Communications Commission to their questions about our changes to early termination fees (ETFs) for smartphones, and about the way we handle situations where customers accidentally access the mobile web from their Verizon Wireless cellphones.  Bottom line: we believe subsidized mobile broadband devices, which come with ETFs, provide many people with an affordable choice of getting connected to the Web in ways they might not otherwise be able to afford.  If... Read More

We fight day-in, day-out to meet and exceed our customers' expectations. We do that by constantly improving how we do business.Our declining early termination fee, or ETF, makes it possible for a broad array of Americans who might not otherwise be able to afford broadband connections to be active participants in the online world. Too many people still can’t afford to buy a PC for Internet access, and a subsidized handset option can be a great option.Nobody is required to pay an ETF.  You always... Read More

In a letter today to key lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Verizon Wireless’ President and CEO Lowell McAdam announced “Effective immediately for small wireless carriers... any new exclusivity arrangement we enter with handset makers will last no longer than six months – for all manufacturers and all devices.” Read the full letter for yourself below. July 17, 2009  The Honorable Rick Boucher Chairman Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet House Committee on Energy and Commerce... Read More

In light of all the discussion of this Wall Street Journal’s story (subscription required), I want to make sure folks didn’t miss the Journal’s editorial on the same subject. (Link... Read More

Here in the Northeast, the end of the school year and the start of summer are just a few weeks away.  In many parts of the country, school is already out, and that means more leisure time, more time away from home, and more opportunities for our kids to use their wireless phones  During the summer, a wireless phones can be great for kids –for safety and to stay in touch.  Parents can use some simple tools to stay on top of their kids’ wireless phone use, ensuring that a change in schedule... Read More