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Large numbers of technicians and personnel follow a Verizon Wireless customer around, as one member of the hoard of carrier employees - you know who I mean - speaks into his cell phone, asking "Can you hear me now?" These long-running series of commercials are meant to signify how seriously Verizon takes service and support.

While the basic premise of these ads probably won't change anytime soon, one detail might: Rather than lugging around an 8-pound laptop, you may soon find some of the Verizon technicians in the commercials sporting a 5-ounce BlackBerry smartphone instead

That's because, according to the carrier's Verizon Partner Solutions (VPS) unit, Verizon's replaced the heavy laptops of its 2,250 field technicians and managers with RIM's BlackBerry 8703e smartphone. As a result, according to Verizon, the mobile operator's seen a big boost in mobility and operating efficiency from workers.

Verizon unveiled a new first-of-its-kind application for BlackBerry and network solution to allow the carrier to replace its laptops with BlackBerrys at RIM's Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando this week. The solution's been specially configured to allow BlackBerry devices to deliver the same computing and data communications functions as the retired PCs at a fraction of the size, weight and cost of - no doubt, most importantly to the carrier - a laptop.

"Prior to the deployment of the BlackBerry smartphones, technicians working at remote locations in the field could only connect using laptop PCs," said VPS senior VP of customer experience Diane McCarthy. "It was a cumbersome process that limited their access to routine work-assignment, testing, close-out and time-reporting applications, and their ability to communicate job-status updates to customers and supervisors."

Verizon said the lower cost of deployment has allowed VPS to make the BlackBerry smartphones the standard communications device used by all of its technicians. This has enabled them to streamline its internal IT support and help desk operations, focusing on the smartphones rather than a variety of devices and operating systems.

In the future, use of the smartphones should reduce the overall cost of periodic equipment refreshes across the field force, according to Verizon.