Final Florida network preparations made as 2012 hurricane season approaches

Business Wire, with a press release from Verizon: With the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season set to begin June 1, Verizon Wireless is finalizing special storm season network preparations to ensure Florida customers have access to the most reliable wireless services in the event of severe weather and other emergencies.

These special preparations augment on-going network enhancements highlighted by the rapid expansion of the company's most advanced 4G LTE services in numerous Florida markets. First launched in Florida less than 18 months ago, Verizon Wireless 4G LTE already covers nearly every major city and more than 75 percent of the state's population. These markets include South Florida, Key West, Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, Bradenton, Tampa Bay, Lakeland, Orlando, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Ocala, Pensacola and Ft. Walton Beach.

Since last hurricane season, Verizon also has installed new in-building network systems at hospitals, government and emergency facilities, high-traffic public venues and other key locations. In addition, the company continues to install back-up generators with expanded fuel tanks at cell sites around the state to maintain wireless communication to keep wireless communication up and running even in the event of a prolonged power outage. More than 75 percent of all Verizon Wireless cell sites in Florida are equipped with their own back-up generators.

In conjunction with the generators, Verizon has pre-arranged fuel delivery in case of a storm, and will have tankers poised and in position to quickly arrive in hard-hit areas.

Verizon Wireless has five "super-switch" network processing centers located across the state (Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Jupiter and Pembroke Pines), which are designed to withstand Category 5 hurricanes and would serve as Emergency Operation Centers (EOC) in case of emergency. Storm season preparations have been ongoing at these facilities, which feature hardened shells, large-scale on-site power generation and other back-up systems to ensure the company's Florida network remains strong, running and reliable...

Cell phone tower in Holmes Beach, Florida, shot by Yvesmayrand, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license