UNO Graduate Works for Verizon Wireless, Doesn't Exactly Say, "Can You Hear Me Now?"

Erin Arnoult (BS Electrical Engineering, 2000) works as a Network Engineer for Verizon Wireless.

Story and photo reproduced courtesy of WWL TV from: Digital Gumbo, Eyewitness Morning News, May 6, 2004

You've probably seen the TV commercials for Verizon Wireless with the guy wandering round asking "can you hear me now?" The spots are amusing, but I recently discovered that Verizon really has people who go around testing network quality. Their methodology, however, is a little more complicated than what you see on TV.

Erin Arnoult is a network performance engineer for the Gulf Coast region. "People always ask me if I'm out there walking around on my cell phone," says Arnoult, "but actually what I do is drive. I usually drive around 2,000 miles every month."

Arnoult, 26, is one of several Verizon engineers who spend one week of every month driving between Lafayette and Panama City, Florida, looking for areas with poor signal reception. When it's her turn, Arnoult typically drives 200 - 300 miles per day in her specially equipped Chevy TrailBlazer. Verizon conducts similar tests in all service areas. Nationwide, vehicles like Arnoult's rack up a total of over 100,000 miles every month.

The cargo area of the Arnoult's SUV is dominated by two large equipment cases. Each case holds four cellular phones from various manufacturers. The phones are rigidly mounted and controlled by a laptop sitting on the passenger seat. Software running on the laptop tests both Verizon's network and competitors' networks. The whole package costs over $250,000 and includes a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver, cellular digital packet data (CDPD) modem, scanners, and several rooftop antennas.

As Arnoult drives her route, the computer places calls between the vehicle and a land-based measurement station. The two-and-a-half minute calls are designed to compare Verizon Wireless' network performance against AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, Nextel Communications, Sprint PCS, and T-Mobile USA. The system also tests incoming calls and analog systems.

When a call is established, a speech synthesizer generates nonsensical phrases, such as "these days a chicken leg is a rare dish," "it's easy to tell the depth of a well, " or "a man walked halfway to the hardware store." The phrases are from a collection known as the "Harvard sentences," which were reportedly developed by linguists at Harvard University in 1969 and later adopted by the IEEE to test the voice quality of communications systems. The Verizon system generates both a male and a female voice.

The GPS receiver is used to pinpoint the exact location where calls are dropped or where dial tone isn't available. If the problem is with the Verizon network, the coordinates are logged and checked against other system information. "There's no substitute for testing the network in the field," says Arnoult. "It's the only way to tell what the customer is experiencing."

In an average month, Arnoult also spends several days in the office crunching numbers from the results stored on her laptop. The data she compiles impacts whether Verizon Wireless erects a new tower or increases capacity in a given area. The company reportedly invested $4 billion in the cellular network nationwide last year, but Arnoult says her department is always looking for ways to improve it.

"You can't just build a cellular network and leave it alone," says the Metairie native and graduate of UNO's school of engineering. "We're constantly upgrading our system and trying to keep our customers happy."

Does driving around all day listening to stange voices ever get old? "It did at first," says Arnoult, "but after a while, you get used to it. I'm actually to the point where I miss the noise if I'm in the vehicle and the equipment is off."