Subject: [NEXTEL-1] No Rest For This Road Warrior- Drive Testing- Don't Forget The little Guy!

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 10:49:22 -0500

No Rest For This Road Warrior
BY RHONDA WICKHAM
DECEMBER 15, 2003

He may not look like Verizon Wireless' bespectacled pitchman, but Howard
Groves is one of 50 "Can You Hear Me Now?" drivers who continuously monitors
the carrier's U.S. network. Groves racks up 5,000-plus miles a month traversing
Indiana and western Kentucky, checking call quality, signal strength, channel
selection and noise.

His mobile office–a leased Ford Taurus wagon–is fully loaded with $300,000
worth of features not typically found on vehicle option lists. Inside are eight
installed phones, a car kit, GPS, CDPD modem, scanners and a laptop, and on
top is an array of 14 roof-mounted antennas.

As Groves drives urban and rural roads, his phones dispatch calls between the
Taurus and two land audio measurement stations in Dublin, Ohio. In designated
route runs of 30-60 minutes each, phones process 150-second calls, designed to
compare Verizon Wireless' network performance against AT&T Wireless, Cingular
Wireless, Nextel Communications Inc., Sprint PCS and T-Mobile USA. Once
connected, prerecorded voices repeat catchy phrases such as "A chicken leg is a
rare dish," "The boss runs a tight ship," and "It's easy to tell the depth of a
well." These particular phrases, developed by Harvard University, reflect the
highs
and lows in typical voice conversations, Groves says.

With the antenna farm on top, passersby don't know what to make of Groves'
ride. One previous vehicle featured dark tinted windows causing speeders to drop

back rather than pass and pedestrians to ask, "What's that?"

Next year, Verizon Wireless is upgrading Groves' mobile office. Because Ford
Motor Company is discontinuing the Taurus, Groves' will slip behind the wheel of

an ample-roofed Chevy Trailblazer with additional test equipment. It's not the
odometer reading that raises eyebrows when trading vehicles, he says, but the
holes in the roof. "It's not really helpful for resale," Groves laughs.

Despite the windshield time, Groves loves to see how many times he can detect
network problems before they affect customers. As for his employer's familiar
slogan, it's an apt job description with one exception. "I don't say, 'Can you
hear
me now?' I just let the laptops do the talking," Groves says.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA341645?spacedesc=Departments&stt=000

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 11:06:58 -0500

Every RF Engineer needs to spend six months driving HIS network before he is allowed
to optimize.
Back in the day we had a Chevy Safari Van Loaded with 100K of LCC and Safeco
equipment. I can still hear the voices of Jenny (the automated voice) saying
"Handover", "Call Drop", "Ready".....
Back then it we used 2 persons Chauffeur & Operator (most companies liked this
because of safety). Now with the new Comarco equipment all you need is the
chauffeur.

 

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