NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verizon has recently undergone a major multi-year transformation of its network architecture to provide customers with more capabilities, upgrade the technology in the network, pave the way for personalized customer experiences and provide a platform for enterprises and developers to drive innovation. While this massive undertaking is not over, the results have been unmistakable, with customers using the network in more places in more ways and having a better experience on the Verizon network.
“It’s been a tremendously dynamic and exciting few years for our network, introducing 5G to the market, redesigning the network core functions, accelerating our fiber build and introducing a host of advanced technologies to improve our customers’ experience with us,” said Joe Russo, EVP and CEO of Global Network and Technology. “These changes mean more people can do more things in more places more reliably, and that’s what we’re all about as a company.”
A massive, multi-year network transformation
Major upgrades to Verizon’s network over the past few years include:
These significant changes to the network exponentially increased capacity and performance, created a scalable platform to manage the increase in usage, increased network efficiency, improved security and reliability for customers, and created the platform for exponential growth the company is now seeing.
Customer experience and habits have changed
The massive speed and capacity increases resulting from recent network changes have encouraged customers to use more data and do more in more places than ever before. A year after the launch of 5G, about 24% of Verizon customers were on 5G devices. Today, more than 68% of customers have 5G capable cell phones and they are using exponentially more data. At present, 5G traffic using C-band spectrum makes up more than 38% of the total data on the network, up from over 14% one year ago. As 5G data usage increases, there is a correlated decrease of data volume on the 4G network with customers currently using just over 56% compared to a year ago when nearly 81% of data traffic ran over 4G service. This shift results in all customers having a better experience – 5G customers are experiencing the speed and massive capacity of 5G, while 4G customers are seeing increases in performance because so much traffic is shifting onto the 5G network freeing up capacity on the 4G network.
Not only are customers using the network more, they are using it differently. Home Internet, Business Internet and Private Networks have altered how, when and where customers access the network. Verizon sees a steady pace of approximately 400,000 net adds for Home Internet each quarter, a majority of which are fixed wireless access (FWA). As of August, over 2.5 million consumer and business customers are using Verizon’s FWA service with each using just over 300 GB of data per month. Private networks are gaining momentum as well with solutions like the Cleveland Clinic and the NFL’s Coach-to-Coach coming online in all 30 NFL stadiums.
While customers are using more data and using it differently, the massive network upgrades have enabled customers to have a markedly better experience than ever before. Customers can do things faster, with Ookla showing median 5G download speeds increasing 98.45% since January of 2021* and RootMetrics showing download speeds increasing more than 176% since the second half of 2021 in the top 125 metros tested.** And in rigorous scientific network tests, RootMetrics concluded that Verizon’s network is undefeated in 96.8% of the metro drive tests (121 out of 125 markets) they performed in the first half of 2023.***
*Based on analysis by Verizon of Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data for median 5G download speeds, U.S., Q1 2021 vs. Q2 2023. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission.** Based on analysis by Verizon of RootMetrics® U.S. State of 5G Report for top 125 metro markets: 2H 2021 vs. 1H 2023. Tested with best commercially available smartphones on 3 national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of Verizon.*** Rankings based on the RootMetrics® metro RootScore® Reports for 125 metro areas 1H23: Tested with best commercially available smartphones on three mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of Verizon.
MEDIA CONTACT:Karen Schulz864.561.1527Karen.schulz@verizonwireless.com
Source: Verizon Sourcing LLC