Verizon calls in their special trailers to act as temporary cell sites at CES

Ever wonder how all of those hundreds of thousands of extra visitors to the CES at Las Vegas manage to get connected to their carrier's network to receive data or to make a call? You would think that with all of the media, corporate bigwigs and others attending the show, cellular service would be a bit sluggish or even non-existent at certain places and times.

To combat the large number of people with mobile devices, all trying to get a connection at the same time, the carriers call in their "bulls" or "cows". Those are the nicknames for the trailers that the carriers drive to locations to act as temporary cell sites. The guys from Engadget got to get a look at the inside of a Verizon trailer, and came away with the picture below. It is just one of eight trailers that Verizon is employing for CES 2012.

Trailers like the one in the picture will allow us to keep you fully updated on what is going on at CES 2012. In past years, we told you about the unveiling of such devices as the Palm Pre and the Motorola DROID BIONIC. Keep checking in with us at PhoneArena for our first-hand reports on all of the activities, starting Sunday.

Here's how you can still get unlimited data on Verizon

Here’s a neat little trick which allows you to bypass Verizon Wireless’ system restrictions and actually get the good old unlimited data plan the company nixed in the summer of 2011. Obviously, this is something the carrier is likely to remove very quickly so you’d need to act fast.

All you can eat data is something pretty much every smartphone user out there dreams for, but you should also be warned that it’s possible for Verizon to revert that on your smartphone. In either case, for the most adventurous among you, here’s how you can try to sneak and get under-the-radar unlimited data.

1. Dial *611 from your Verizon phone, or 1-800-922-0204 from any phone.
2. Wait for computer CSR to go through the main menu. You will need your Verizon phone # and account PIN or last 4 of SSN.
3. Hit option 4.
4. When it asks you what you would like to do today say "Add a feature."
5. If you have a 3G device (which includes all iPhones): Say you would like to add the $20 2GB 3G Mobile Hotspot FEATURE to your phone. If you have a 4G device: Say you would like to add the $30 Unlimited 4G Mobile Hotspot FEATURE to your phone. According to StopTheCap [http://stopthecap.com/2011/07/12/how-to-get-verizon-wireless-4g-30-unlimited-use-hotspot-feature-added-to-your-account/], they may be able to locate this feature via referencing feature code #76153.
6. Your data plan will now be the $29.99 unlimited data plan, and you'll have either the 2GB or unlimited Mobile Hotspot feature on top of that.
7. OPTIONAL - if you don't want the Mobile Hotspot feature} Log into My Verizon and remove the Mobile Hotspot FEATURE from your account. Many people recommend waiting a few days (at a minimum) to remove the feature. The $29.99 unlimited data plan should remain on your account.
8. If they say they can't add that feature to your plan, or that you must bundle your data + mobile hotspot service together as a single data plan, tell them thank you, hang up, and repeat the steps above.