Verizon Avenue Now Offers High-Speed Internet Service To Reserve Square Apartments in Cleveland

CLEVELAND - Verizon Avenue, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications and a leading provider of telecommunications and data services, has introduced high-speed Internet access service for apartment buildings and other multiple dwelling units in Cleveland. The Reserve Square Apartments, at 1701 East 12th Street, are the first in the Cleveland area where Verizon's new offering is available.

The high-speed Internet service, called Verizon Voyager, is provided using digital subscriber line technology (DSL) located on the property. Verizon Avenue launched high-speed Internet access to multi-tenant buildings in New York City in April and is now installing the DSL equipment and network connections in properties in Cleveland and other major cities throughout the U.S.

"Verizon Voyager service brings the exciting capabilities of broadband to apartment and condominium residents," said Bruce Westenfelder, market director for Verizon Avenue. "This is a high-demand communications service that property owners can add to their portfolio of amenities to attract and retain residents."

Verizon Avenue also will make additional communications services, such as local phone service and long distance, available to Reserve Square residents in early 2002. Plans call for Verizon Avenue to expand service to the Cincinnati area over the next few months.

Marketing agreements with the property owners allow Verizon Avenue to deploy high-speed Internet access over regular copper telephone lines at the property. Verizon Avenue installs high-speed Internet access equipment on site to connect residents to the Internet. The placement of access equipment on the premises eliminates distance limitations, so high-speed access can be delivered to every resident with a phone connection. The on-site property staff markets Voyager as an amenity to their residents.

"Reserve Square attracts residents with lifestyles that demand the best in amenities-such as high-speed Internet access," said Sandy Gorie, general manager, Reserve Square. "Our residents have been demanding high-speed Internet service, and we wanted to offer a superior service that compliments Reserve Square's discriminating amenities." Working with a nationally-recognized provider like Verizon Avenue makes good strategic sense."

High-speed access enables subscribers to transfer data, graphics, audio and video files at speeds considerably faster than a traditional 56-kilobit dial-up modem. Since the Internet connection taps into unused frequencies on the telephone line, customers can use the same line to simultaneously make phone calls and access the Internet.

The Verizon Voyager services are offered in packages that include high-speed access, e-mail and personal Web space. The most popular Verizon Voyager packages are Choice Pack and Double Pack, two of the four options currently available to Reserve Square residents:

• Choice Pak is $49.95 per month for maximum connection speeds up to 768 Kbps (kilobits per second) download and 128 Kbps upload. This package includes four e-mail addresses with the VZAvenue.net domain and Web-mail access, 10-MB (megabytes) storage per mailbox and 10 MB personal Web space.
• Double Pak is $59.95 per month for maximum connection speeds up to 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 128 Kbps upstream. This package includes the ability for two users to logon simultaneously, eight e-mail addresses with the VZAvenue.net domain and Web-mail access, 10 MB storage per mailbox and 20 MB personal Web space (10 MB per logged-on user).

Verizon Avenue also provides each property a branded community network page. In addition to acting as a gateway to the Internet, it offers residents the ability to post messages for other residents and to make service requests online.

Once high-speed access is available in an apartment community, ordering and installation typically take a couple of business days. Technical support is available seven days a week. Reserve Square residents can sign up for high-speed Internet service through the property management or leasing office, or by calling 1-866-VZ AVENUE (1-866-892-8368).

All the downstream and upstream speeds describing Verizon's DSL services are theoretical maximum connection speeds between the customer's computer and Verizon's DSL equipment. Actual connection speeds will vary from the maximum speeds and often will be lower. Throughput or download speeds refer to the speed at which data is transferred to a customer's computer from the Internet and are lower than connection speeds. Download speeds will differ based on numerous factors, including the length of the customer's line (or distance) from telephone company facilities, condition of the phone line and inside wiring, network and Internet congestion, and the server and Web-site configurations of the Internet sites visited. Kilobits per second and megabits per second are measures of how fast data is transmitted. The data rates for "downstream" and "upstream" refer to the maximum connection speeds between a customer's computer and Verizon's DSL equipment.

Verizon Avenue, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon Communications, Inc., is a leading provider of packaged data and voice communications services for the multi-dwelling unit (MDU) market. Verizon Avenue high-speed Internet access is now available in the Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. markets. Phone services are currently available in major markets including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. Expansion is planned to Cincinnati and other markets.

Verizon Communications

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 128.5 million access line equivalents and 28.7 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with 256,000 employees and approximately $65 billion in annual revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to more than 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.