Verizon Local, Long-Distance Network Continues To Serve Customers During Blackout

NEW YORK - The Verizon local and long-distance network in the states affected by the massive electrical power outage continued to operate throughout the night and this morning.

More than 500 Verizon central switching offices serving the affected area continued to provide dial tone and 9-1-1 service to homes, businesses and pay phones when they automatically switched to backup power. These switching offices are in New York State, New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Verizon serves some 20 million lines in the area.

Overall the Verizon network is performing remarkably well, and over 99% of the system worked as expected, with all hospitals, essential services and 9-1-1 experiencing no significant problems. In a few Verizon switching offices, power supplies were unstable despite backup power, causing some intermittent problems. Those problems are being addressed today.

Verizon has been getting extremely good cooperation from the local power companies as service is restored in the affected areas.

The Verizon network continued to handle abnormally heavy traffic demands, and some customers may have trouble getting calls through on the first try. Customers who are patient and retry their calls will get through, however. Phone problems can also be caused by business phone systems powered by commercial power that are not operating. Cordless phones also require commercial electricity and may not operate.

The company maintains backup power with diesel generators and/or batteries in its computerized switching systems that provide dial tone. Tens of thousands of pay phones continued to work and provided communications for many who needed to make calls.

While many businesses in New York City are closed due to continued power outages, most Verizon employees continued to report to their normal work locations this morning.

Verizon Communications

A Fortune 10 company, 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 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, and the company is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. With approximately $67 billion in annual revenues and 221,000 employees, Verizon's global presence extends to the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.

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