New, Easy Way to Get Directory Assistance From Bell Atlantic Operators

New, Easy Way to Get Directory Assistance
From Bell Atlantic Operators

Southeastern Pennsylvania Customers Should Dial 4-1-1 for
'Information;'
No Area Code Required!

June 9, 1999

PHILADELPHIA -- Local and national directory assistance is now
available to telephone customers in southeastern Pennsylvania with the
push of only three numbers -- 4-1-1.

Bell Atlantic operators can provide both local and national listings.
Customers do not need to know the area code for the listing they need;
they only need the state, town and name.

The price for a local listing from Bell Atlantic is only 50 cents, and only
after each residential customer makes two local directory assistance calls
each month (business customers pay 57 cents and do not get a free call
allowance). With Bell Atlantic's new National 411 service, the cost is just
95 cents for up to two listings, far below the $1.40 some customers would
pay to use a long distance carrier's area code plus 555-1212 access
number. With 4-1-1, local or national billing is automatic.

To fill the exploding demand for new telephone numbers, two new area
codes are being introduced in southeastern Pennsylvania. Starting in July,
companies providing local or cellular phone service or paging service may
assign numbers in the new 267 and 484 area codes to customers who
request new service, an additional line or, in some cases, who want to
move their service. The new 267 area code will have the same geographic
boundaries of the current 215 code. The 484 code will
"overlay" the boundaries of the current 610 code.

Existing phone numbers in the 215 and 610 area codes will not change,
but all callers will need to dial the area code and seven-digit number when
they make any calls within or between these four area codes. The
10-digit requirement also applies when using the 555-1212 information
line. Without an area code, calls to directory assistance using the seven-
digit number will be routed to a recorded message instructing the caller to
dial both the area code and telephone number.

"Dialing 4-1-1 is the best alternative, no matter whether you're
looking for a local or a national number," said Kitty Linder, Bell
Atlantic's vice president of operator services. "It's the only number
you need to know, and you can be certain you'll get an accurate listing
from a professional operator at the best price."

Competing services, she said, charge the same price for a local or a
national listing, but do not explain that local numbers are available from
Bell Atlantic at less than half what they charge.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and
information industry. With 43 million telephone access lines and nine
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.