New England Consumers Now Get One-Stop Shopping for Verizon Services, Equipment

NEW YORK - Consumers who want a cordless telephone with call screening and a Caller ID display now can buy one at the same time they order Verizon's Caller ID and other optional services.

The convenience of one-stop shopping for Verizon's versatile call management services and the equipment that makes them easy-to-use is now available to residential customers in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

Beginning today, customers can maximize the benefits of Home Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, *69, Three-Way Calling and other services when they buy feature-rich equipment from Verizon's consumer sales and solution centers. Both the services and the phone equipment can be purchased with one phone call.

''By integrating our sales of equipment and service, we're simplifying the process for our customers while providing them the best phone products available for using our most popular services,'' said Ellen M. Corcoran, Verizon's vice president of consumer sales.

Until now, customers could only buy the equipment during a separate conversation with Verizon TeleProducts, the company's equipment subsidiary.

The most versatile cordless phone available from Verizon has two built-in Caller ID displays, one on the handset and one on the base. The Cidco set also is a speakerphone; allows for the kind of call screening normally available only with answering devices; has hold, redial and mute buttons; and has a message light indicator. Another popular feature, Caller ID Paging, allows the telephone numbers of incoming calls to be sent to the customer's pager.

The phone's hottest new feature, Call Screening (or Message Screening), lets the customer listen to callers leave their messages on Home Voice Mail. This feature requires that the customer subscribe to Verizon's Home Voice Mail and Three-Way Calling.

Another popular feature of this Cidco cordless phone is its one-button access to several Verizon calling services. Buttons on the set allow subscribers to access Home Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, *69, Three-Way Calling with one touch, bypassing a series of menu prompts. For added convenience, these services are pre-programmed into the phone, eliminating set-up time for the customer.

''We selected the equipment we're selling because it makes using our call management services easier. And that's what our customers have told us they want,'' Corcoran said.

The multi-featured phone is about $200, plus shipping and taxes. For an additional $44, an extended, two-year warranty is available that includes a 15-percent discount on future equipment orders from Verizon.

Verizon is offering two other phones, one cordless and one corded, plus a Call Waiting ID display. These products range in price from about $50 to $100, plus shipping and taxes. Extended warranties also are available with prices of about $10 to $20.

One stop shopping for services and equipment also is available to Verizon's customers in the mid-Atlantic states.

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Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 112 million access line equivalents and 27 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with approximately 260,000 employees and more than $65 billion in annual revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com