Verizon said 64% of people in the Jacksonville area are covered by its mmWave and C-Band network
Jacksonville, Florida is the latest U.S. city to receive “major” network upgrades from Verizon. The carrier said that the upgrades, which are being systematically rolled out in cities across the country, are part of a larger network architecture redesign effort to “stay ahead of exponential data usage increases” and to “pave the way for personalized customer experiences.”
Verizon is adding new cell sites in Jacksonville to extend coverage and capacity in local communities, and said engineers have already added seven new macro cell sites to increase capacity in the Bulls Bay area, West Jacksonville, Holly Oaks in North East Jacksonville, the Sunbeam area, the Beach Haven area, the Argyle Forest area and the South Jacksonville area. Sixty-four percent of people in the Jacksonville area are covered by Verizon’s mmWave and C-Band network, said the carrier.
Jacksonville also received five new LTE small cells that use the CBRS band. Other areas of the network make use of Verizon’s recently acquired C-band spectrum. The additional bandwidth, said the carrier, will “turbo charge” its 5G service and deliver significantly higher speeds and greater capacity.
Finally, Verizon added more capacity to Jacksonville’s fiber optic cables to allow more data to travel on the city’s wireless network. “That exponential increase in data carried into and out of the cell sites serving the community requires upgraded fiber optic cable links. Fiber optic cables are used to move data between cell sites and connect those sites to the rest of the network,” explained Verizon in a statement, adding that it has increased the capacity on the fiber connections in many of Jacksonville’s cell sites so that they can carry 10 times the amount of data.
Other U.S. cities that have already experienced these types of network upgrades include Dayton, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; Lancaster, PA; Louisville, KY; Omaha, NE; El Paso, TX; Greenville, SC; Temecula, Greensboro; Antelope Valley, CA; Fort Myers, FL; Tucson, AZ; Atlanta, GA; Augusta, GA; Sarasota, FL; Milwaukee, WI; Charlotte, NC; Colorado Springs CO; Fresno, CA; Grand Rapids, MI; Riverside, CA; and Portland, OR.
During the first few years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. saw a mass relocation to Florida, which led to more than a quarter million devices being shifted over to the southern state. In response, Verizon announced in May 2022 that it will allocate an additional $149 million to its Florida capital spending to meet the now “skyrocketing demands” on the network. At the time, the carrier said it will build more than 3,500 new network solutions in the state including new macro towers, small cell sites and repeaters to increase 4G LTE capacity and coverage, expanding 5G Ultra Wideband service. Additionally, the carrier is prioritizing enhancing coverage at major population centers and gathering places including Disney World, Orange County Convention Center and Amalie Arena.
