Can Phila. hear Verizon now?

As Penn students grow more attached to their Blackberries and cell phones, Verizon Wireless has kept right in stride.

This year, Verizon has been hard at work upgrading and expanding cell phone coverage for Philadelphia in an effort to improve voice services, text messaging and internet access around campus.

Fourty-four additional cell towers have been activated region-wide, adding more coverage area and improving reception in busy areas, according to a press release.

“Our game plan is to do things reliably and stay ahead of demand,” said Verizon public relations manager Sheldon Jones. “Customer expectations have been increasing, and we’ve made quantum leaps in our service to accommodate that.”

In addition, 292 existing towers have been upgraded throughout the region and portable “cells on wheels” — or trucks outfitted with antennae — have been added to ensure coverage of high-traffic events.

These improvements are part of Verizon’s aggressive growth campaign. The company has invested more than $119 million into the Philadelphia tri-state region and more than $2.1 billion since 2001, according to the press release.

Many students have been receptive to the improved service.

“Verizon is great,” said College sophomore Deven Parker. “I’ve used an iPhone here too, but my BlackBerry even works underground on the SEPTA.”

Since its founding in 2000, Verizon has invested more than $50 billion in improving its service around the nation.

Company testers, represented by Verizon’s “Test Man” from its “Can you hear me now?” commercials, drove over 15,000 miles around the area in the first half of 2009, mapping service quality in vehicles equipped with wireless testing devices.

Verizon has taken Philadelphia’s busy moments in stride as well. For home games of the 2009 World Series, Jones said, the company deployed cells on light trucks, or COLTS.

These 12-ton mobile communications platforms, which were set up near Citizens’ Bank Park, helped handle the 800,000 text messages sent and 300,000 calls made by fans over the course of two playoff games — a 40-percent increase over Verizon’s typical ‘game-day’ usage during baseball season.

Sections of Philadelphia are also undergoing trials of Verizon FiOS, a fiber-optic service launched in 2005 that provides high-speed internet and television.

While FiOS is not available near Penn, Jones said the entire city should be covered in the next seven years.

“We’ve always believed even the most advanced cell phone is only as good as the network it runs on,” regional president Mario Turco said in a statement.

Coverage for next-generation 4G networks capable of broadband-speed mobile Internet is also planned for next year in 25 to 30 major U.S. cities. Verizon expects to have nationwide 4G coverage by 2013.

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