Access to Cyberspace Becomes More Affordable for Pennsylvania Consumers

August 28, 1996

Access to Cyberspace Becomes More Affordable
for Pennsylvania Consumers

Residential ISDN Rates Reduced 12 to 86 Percent
for Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania Customers

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - High-speed access to cyberspace
from home is now
more affordable and easy to get for Pennsylvania consumers.

New pricing plans with lower monthly and installation rates are now in
effect for Bell
Atlantic-Pennsylvania's residential ISDN (Integrated
Services Digital Network) service. The new rates are 12 to 86 percent
cheaper than the previous introductory rates for Bell Atlantic's ISDN
service at home.

ISDN provides a quicker way to transmit and download data, graphics
and images for consumers who use the Internet and on-line services or
for telecommuters who need access to their corporate computer
networks.

New pricing plans for monthly residential ISDN service in Pennsylvania
include five packages ranging from $31 a month for 20 hours of total
B-channel use to $108.50 a month for 500 hours of total B-channel use
for voice, data or video transmission. ISDN provides two B channels
that each transmit data at 64 kilobits per second (Kbps).

For those who need an ISDN data connection 24 hours a day, seven days
a week, an unlimited ISDN usage package now costs $249 monthly.

"These pricing packages make high-speed access very affordable for
consumers, whether they want to surf the 'Net, go on-line or access
their corporate LANs," said Curt Koeppen, Bell Atlantic vice
president
- ISDN. "With the rapidly growing consumer demand for more
bandwidth,
we believe our new ISDN pricing will help create a true mass market
for consumer data services."

Installation is now $125, a 24 percent reduction off the previous
installation charge for most customers. This does not include
installation of inside wiring, which may be required, and equipment
installation. Both can be purchased from Bell Atlantic or other
companies.

The new pricing plans and the monthly rates are as follows:

20 hours* - $31.00
60 hours - $41.25
140 hours - $55.50
300 hours - $84.00
500 hours - $108.50
Unlimited - $249.00

For example, consumers who buy the 20-hour package can get 10 hours if
they use both of ISDN's "B" channels or 20 hours when they use
one "B"
channel for voice or data transmission.

Customers who use more time than the package they select will pay the
standard usage fee for any additional time -- 2 cents per minute per
channel 7 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays (peak time) and 1 cent per minute per
channel evenings and weekends (off-peak).

Previously, Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania's residential customers paid
$23.15 to $24.25 monthly for ISDN service, plus usage charges of 2
cents per minute per channel during peak hours and 1 cent per minute
per channel off-peak hours. Under those old rates, customers would
have paid $95.15 to $96.25 a month when they used 60 B-channel hours
compared with $41.25 under the new rates.

Bell Atlantic also plans to offer Pennsylvania customers an unlimited
dial-up Internet access service using ISDN in the Philadelphia area in
September and in other areas of Pennsylvania beginning later this
year. ISDN provides the fastest connection to the Internet with
end-to-end digital connectivity.

ISDN is an all-digital network technology that combines voice, data and
video signals on a single telephone line, and transmits them at speeds
up to 128 Kbps - or as high as 500 Kbps with common compression
techniques available in some of the ISDN-capable equipment. When
compared with 14.4 Kbps analog modems, the increase in speed can be up
to nine-fold.

To order or receive information about Bell Atlantic's residential ISDN
service, customers can call Bell Atlantic InfoSpeed at 1-800-204-7332

Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Customers also can send
an e-mail message to isdncin@bell-atl.com. Information also
is
available on Bell Atlantic's residential ISDN home page at
http://www.bell-atl.com/isdn/consumer.

Bell Atlantic Corporation (NYSE:
BEL) is at the forefront of the new
communications, entertainment and information industry. In the
mid-Atlantic region, the company is the premier provider of local
telecommunications and advanced services. Globally, it is one of the
largest investors in the high-growth wireless communication
marketplace. Bell Atlantic also owns a substantial interest in
Telecom Corporation of New Zealand and is actively developing
high-growth national and international business opportunities in all
phases of the industry.

####

* Total B channel use

Media contact:

Joan Rasmussen (703) 974-8815
joan.m.rasmussen@bell-atl.com