Cell phones toughening up in boot camp

Verizon wants you to know that they’re not selling you just any piece of junk phone. No, they’re rigorous in their testing so that you get only the best in quality products — or at least that’s what they’re claiming with their improved cell phone testing lab. The lab, once a mere cramped office, now fills an 11,000 square foot wing of Verizon’s headquarters in Bedminster, NJ. And the Verizon phone you have? It’s gone through as many as 100 test to ensure that you’re not getting a clunker.

They are engineers such as Carlton Bennett, who makes sure a phone finds service wherever it is. Stephanie Koles tests the mobile device’s software to make sure all the lines of code — sometimes up to 4.2 million — are working.

Seriously, do you think Stephanie goes through 4.2 million lines of code for each phone? Naaaah. Though we do have to hand it to Carlton. Despite our numerous gripes with Verizon, they always do seem to have service. At least in our area. However, if a phone fails a test, the lab crew works to bring it to functionality.

“The goal is not to reject anything,” LaMedica said. “The goal is to get it to the point that we can actually sell it.”

The process isn’t a quick one: Verizon only goes through 85 full tests per year, though they do go over 300 submissions from manufacturers. Each test takes about five hours, but of course that rises should a device fail one. We wish, though, that they would they could develop a test to make our phone still work after we drop it. [Courier News]]]>