Verizon Prepaid Long-Distance Cards Now Sold Online

NEW YORK - Prepaid phone card users now can purchase and recharge Verizon's calling cards anytime, from any personal computer or laptop. Within minutes, callers can choose the card that best fits their calling needs, buy it and start making long-distance calls, including international calls to more than 200 countries.

Until now, the Verizon cards were available only at select retail stores.

"Verizon customers who do not live or work near the retail stores that sell our prepaid cards have been requesting another way to purchase them," said William M. Freeman, president of Verizon's Public Communications Group. "Now, any time, day or night, buying or recharging our cards is more convenient than ever."

Customers can print out their toll-free access number and PIN while still online or receive them via e-mail immediately after purchase. To place a call, customers dial the toll-free number assigned to the purchased card, then follow voice prompts to enter their PIN and the number they are calling. The cost of the call is automatically subtracted from the value of the prepaid card.

Use of prepaid cards has soared over the past few years, and millions of consumers in the United States use them every day. Convenient to buy and easy to use, the cards are especially popular with college students, vacationers, business travelers, international visitors and new citizens.

Verizon offers four online cards -- all with no maintenance fees, which are charged by many other prepaid card sellers. In addition to domestic long-distance, calling is available to more than 200 countries at competitive rates.

• The Domestic Connect Fee Card, designed for callers who make longer calls within the U.S., has a rate of 2.9 cents a minute. It is available in denominations of $5, $10 and $20. A connection fee of 49 cents per call is deducted from the value of the card.

• The Flat Rate Card has no connection fee and is designed for consumers who make shorter calls. This card is available in denominations of $5 at 8.3 cents per minute, $10 at 7.7 cents per minute and $20 at 6.7 cents per minute.

• The World Card has low international rates to more than 200 countries and allows calling from overseas back to the U.S. This card has no connection fee.

• The Mexico Card, available in $5 and $10 denominations, also has no connection fee and carries calls from the U.S. to Mexico and other Latin American countries, including the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Venezuela. Also with this card, customers can make calls from Mexico to the U.S.

Cards can be purchased or their value recharged online at http://prepaidservices.verizon.com. Credit cards accepted are MasterCard, Visa, Discover, Diners Club, American Express and JCB (a Japanese credit card). Verizon provides toll-free numbers for customer service, in English and Spanish, for assistance in purchasing, recharging and placing calls.

The online cards, rechargeable when their remaining values get low, also are sold at Wawa, Crown Petroleum and other retail stores across the country. Customers who purchase cards at these stores will soon be able to recharge them online at the same Verizon Web site.

Calls made from payphones may incur a surcharge imposed by the payphone provider, which will be automatically deducted from the value on the card.

A Fortune 10 company, Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services, with approximately $67 billion in revenues and 221,000 employees. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 137.6 million access line equivalents and 34.6 million Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon is the third largest long-distance carrier for U.S. consumers, with 14.6 million long-distance lines. The company is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. Verizon's international presence includes wireline and wireless communications operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

####