Time to suit up.

On today’s Up To Speed Live, host Diana Alvear shared the following updates:

Storm and wildfire update

Hurricane Zeta made landfall yesterday in Louisiana and our crews are hard at work restoring connections for customers. We realize these situations are incredibly trying at an already difficult time, so we’re offering unlimited calls, text and data for customers impacted by Zeta, the ice storm in Oklahoma and Texas, the Silverado and Blue Ridge fires in Southern California, and the East Troublesome and Cameron Peak fires in Colorado.

National First Responders Day

Verizon celebrated National First Responders Day by sending food trucks to select fire and police stations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas, providing free lunch or dinner to those who serve as a thank you for their service. And, we surprised our first responders with special guests Landry Shamet of the LA Clippers and former Chicago Bear Jason McKie.

Donovan to the house

A big shout out to Roz Peoples, Government Major Accounts Manager based in Southfield, MI, and her son Donovan Peoples-Jones, who made some big plays last weekend in the NFL, including scoring the winning touchdown for the Cleveland Browns. We featured him earlier this year as he was preparing for the NFL draft. It’s amazing that just a few months later his highlights are airing on ESPN and our own Yahoo Sports. Congrats to Roz and Donavan!

New Verizon Business plans

Jeff Dietel shared our new Verizon Business plans, designed to meet our customers' evolving needs during these unprecedented times, particularly small businesses who have been hit the hardest.

“These plans are unbelievably exciting,” said Jeff. “We’ve got every segment covered.” All plans feature Verizon’s 5G Nationwide service and the new security product, Business Mobile Secure, to protect small businesses, along with 5G, unlimited talk, text and data.

New driver-facing camera

Verizon Connect launched Driver-facing Dash cam, their latest advanced video solution. It’s an extension of the Integrated Video platform that uses AI and machine learning to process hours of video footage in a short period of time. The new camera system delivers an in-cab perspective of a driver prior to events like hard cornering, harsh braking or a collision to help fleet managers promote safety, mitigate risk and improve overall driver behavior. Congratulations to the Verizon Connect product and engineering teams!

A big win for Verizon Partner Solutions

Please give a round of applause to our Verizon Partner Solutions team for earning two trophies at the Global Carrier Awards: Best North American Wholesale Carrier and Best Inclusion & Diversity Initiative. VPS provides ethernet, voice, data, security, wave and internet solutions to wholesale customers in more than 190 countries.

The Yahoo Smartphone

Yesterday, Yahoo began selling its first branded smartphone, the Yahoo Mobile ZTE Blade A3Y, which can be yours for under fifty bucks. It’s part of Yahoo Mobile's unlimited phone service on the Verizon network. Customers who buy the Yahoo phone can take advantage of other perks on the Yahoo Mobile service plan, including ad-free email with Yahoo Mail Pro and an unlimited mobile hotspot that can be used on one connected device at a time.

The iconic purple phone comes with pre-installed apps including Yahoo Mail, News, Sports, Finance and Weather. It's equipped with an 8-megapixel rear camera with a dual flash and 5-megapixel front-facing camera with a flash.

V Teamer profile: Jen Short

So often we chat with our colleagues but we don’t get to know what’s really going on in their lives. That’s a shame because there’s so much we can learn from one another. Take Jen Short, a 22-year V Team veteran in Consumer Customer Service Vendor Management. Her story isn’t an easy one to tell, but she’s never been one to back down from a challenge. It’s also a reminder that this is National Red Ribbon week for drug prevention. Thank you, Jen, for raising awareness of this difficult but critical issue. Thank you for helping to save lives.

My Why: Jeff Arnold

This week’s My Why episode comes from the Good mailbox and features Verizon Consumer Group’s Jeff Arnold, a Digital Marketing Manager in Irving, TX. Jeff made some profound lifestyle changes after being inspired by the Credo, as well as support from his Verizon colleagues and our benefits plan. He also shows off his talent for special effects makeup that’s a perfect fit for this time of year.

Experience tonight’s The Mandalorian Premiere

Calling all Disney fans. Verizon is the exclusive sponsor of The Premiere Mandalorian Season 2 virtual red carpet event. Verizon Up members will enjoy access to the virtual premiere, including interviews, engagement, Q&A, a special performance and viewing party access. Tune in @Verizon on Twitter tonight, October 30, at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT.

Show us your election participation

Whether it’s urging people to vote, volunteering or casting your ballot, we want to know about it. Send us your pics to good@verizon.com and we’ll feature our V Teamers doing their civic duty.

Here’s hoping you have a great weekend and, for those who are celebrating, a happy and safe Halloween.

If you have any questions, email them to live@verizon.com.

Click here for a transcript of the webcast.

Get the latest information on our Coronavirus Resource Page (Inside Verizon, The Street).

Reminder, tune in to Up To Speed Live Monday at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT.

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