Bell Atlantic's Infospeedsm DSL Service Now Available in City of Richmond

Bell Atlantic's Infospeed^sm DSL Service Now
Available in City of Richmond

March 2, 2000

RICHMOND, Va. - Some Richmond-area residents and businesses have a new choice for high-speed Internet access - Bell Atlantic's Infospeed DSL service, a direct connection to the Internet available today in parts of the metropolitan area.

With Infospeed DSL, you have a dedicated line to the Internet. Once you are connected you can stay on as long as you want -- there's no re-dialing and no busy signals. With one click of the mouse, you're there.

"Our Infospeed DSL package includes fast, unlimited access to the Internet; Bell Atlantic's own Internet service, and the ability to use the same phone line to talk or fax while you're online," Amy McIntosh,
president and CEO, Bell Atlantic Network Data. "And Infospeed provides your own dedicated connection, so you don't have to worry that your access will slow down as cable modem service can because your neighbors are online using the same service."

"Bell Atlantic - Virginia is investing close to $600 million a year in our network so that it can support exciting new technologies like DSL," said Robert Woltz, acting president of Bell Atlantic -
Virginia. "Virginians will be delighted with this new service."

Bell Atlantic Internet Solutions is now offering Infospeed DSL throughout much of the city of Richmond, including downtown, parts of the northside, the Fan, the southside and near West End. In addition, it is now being
offered to customers in parts of western and northern Henrico County. It is not currently available in other parts of the metropolitan area.

Customers can determine whether Infospeed DSL is available to them and order the service on the Bell Atlantic Web site at
www.bellatlantic.com/infospeed or by calling 877-525-2375. Additional
information about Infospeed DSL packages for small businesses is available at www.bellatlantic.com/smallbiz

Infospeed DSL is Bell Atlantic's brand name for DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line technology, which provides the ability to connect to the Internet at speeds up to 7.1 Mbps or up to 126 times faster than a
traditional 56 Kbps (kilobits per second) modem,¹ depending on the Infospeed package selected.

By taking advantage of unused capacity on existing telephone lines, DSL technology allows consumers to use a single phone line to send a fax or make phone calls while simultaneously surfing the Web for news, weather or the latest stock quotes.

Infospeed Packages Offer Tremendous Value

At $49.95 a month, Bell Atlantic's entry-level Personal Infospeed package
for consumers features speeds up to 640 kilobits per second (Kbps) with unlimited use. Bell Atlantic Infospeed DSL Personal Plus, the company's entry-level package for businesses, is priced at $64.95, with speeds up to 640 Kbps for unlimited use.

Consumers and business customers who want even faster connections have two other options:

• Bell Atlantic Professional Infospeed for consumers at $99.95 a month or
  Bell Atlantic Infospeed DSL Professional Plus for businesses at $114.95, feature speeds up to 1.6 megabits per second (Mbps).

• Bell Atlantic Power Infospeed for consumers at $189.95 or Bell Atlantic
  Infospeed DSL Power Plus at $204.95 a month, offer speeds up to 7.1 Mbps.

All Bell Atlantic Infospeed DSL packages for consumers include BellAtlantic.net Internet access and a link to a special version of the Snap portal service designed for Bell Atlantic's high-speed users.

In addition, Bell Atlantic Infospeed DSL Plus packages offer business customers up to six mailboxes, sized to meet business needs at 20
megabytes each, and five megabytes of Web page space.

Getting started costs customers only $99 -- the price of the DSL modem.

Quick Start Installation Kit

After a customer places an order, Bell Atlantic will equip their line with
DSL. At the same time, the company will ship them a DSL modem and a Quick Start Guide with instructions on how to complete the installation themselves. Customers will receive everything they need to connect to the Internet using Bell Atlantic's Infospeed DSL service.

The kit includes:

• DSL modem
• 6 desk and 2 wall micro-filters
• 2-line adapter
• cable for the modem
• Bell Atlantic.netsm software
• Infospeed DSL user guide
• Quick Start Installation instructions

The Quick Start installation is available to customers who sign up for Personal or Professional Infospeed and generally no technician visit is required. A visit from a Bell Atlantic technician is required under certain circumstances for Personal Infospeed (when a customer has a home alarm
monitoring service, for example), when consumers subscribe to Power Infospeed and for all businesses that subscribe to Infospeed DSL.

After installation is completed, technical support is available to all Infospeed DSL customers, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Finally, the service comes with a customer-care, money-back guarantee for
all charges if a customer decides not to continue service within 30 days of installation.

In addition to Richmond, Infospeed DSL is currently being offered in many parts of Northern Virginia and some areas in Hampton Roads. Infospeed DSL also is available in parts of the New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas and in parts of New Jersey.

Bell Atlantic will add more markets in coming months as part of its plan to make 21 million residential and business lines DSL-capable throughout its Northeast service area by the end of the first quarter.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With nearly 44 million telephone access lines and 12 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries.

¹ Actual performance may be lower due to the impact of loop distance, modem technology and other
factors. Speed comparison based on maximum throughput rate of 53Kbps for 56Kbps modems.