Verizon Opens Additional Super-Fast Internet Lanes On Eastern Shore of Maryland

WYE MILLS, Md. - The majority of Eastern Shore consumers and businesses now can zip past the slow dial-up on-ramp and onto the fast lane with Verizon's DSL (digital subscriber line) service.

In the past year, Verizon has extended its DSL broadband service to 26 additional Eastern Shore communities, bringing to 29 the total number of communities on the peninsula with high-speed DSL.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. joined Verizon Maryland President William R. Roberts and state and local officials today at a press conference to celebrate Verizon Online's DSL availability on the Eastern Shore. The event was held simultaneously at four Maryland locations.

Since November 2002, Verizon has brought DSL service to 160,000 lines serving households and businesses in the region.

"Verizon's commitment to expand its super-fast Internet capabilities to the Eastern Shore has exciting potential for rural Maryland businesses and residents," Ehrlich said. "We are delighted to partner with Verizon to provide this important infrastructure resource to rural Maryland. This will help our economic development efforts in the region."

Roberts said, "Verizon is delivering widespread deployment of super-fast DSL to the Eastern Shore this year. We've worked hard to bring Eastern Shore residents and businesses fast, affordable DSL service. It's becoming an essential communications and economic development tool. And we'll continue to roll out DSL service aggressively here and across the state."

Aris Melissaratos, secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, said, "Verizon has stepped up to the plate to provide a valuable broadband technology tool to the Eastern Shore that will greatly enhance the ability of small and large businesses to transmit large volumes of information very quickly. This instantaneous access to information is key to stimulating economic development across Maryland."

Verizon Online Consumer DSL Plans

Verizon Online offers DSL connection speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps (megabits per second) downstream and 128Kbps (kilobits per second) upstream and a choice of payment plans:

• $34.95 a month for stand-alone DSL service

• $29.95 a month as part of a qualifying local and long-distance Verizon package

All Verizon Online DSL consumer packages include:

• A free do-it-yourself installation kit with a DSL modem

• 10 MB (megabytes) of Web storage

• 30 MB of e-mail storage in the primary account and eight additional e-mail boxes, each with 10 MB of storage

Customers can be billed on their monthly Verizon telephone bill or a credit card. All packages come with a 30-day, money-back guarantee.

Local Verizon telephone customers who want to order DSL service or get more information can go online at www.verizon.net or call Verizon at 1-800-567-6789.

Share the Connection

Verizon Online DSL customers can share their high-speed connection with other computers with a Linksys wired ($79.95) or wireless router ($129.95). Both products allow customers to link multiple home or business desktop and laptop computers from one DSL connection. Also, printers, scanners and files can be shared by creating a local area network (LAN). Setting up a network helps to provide a built-in firewall. There's no additional monthly charge for networking.

Verizon Online Business DSL Service

Verizon Online offers five DSL packages to meet the broadband needs of businesses. These packages range from maximum connection speeds of 1.5 Mbps downstream and 128 Kbps upstream to lightning-fast 7.1 Mbps downstream and 768 Kbps upstream. Prices range from $59.95 to $234.95 a month with an annual contract.

Additional DSL discounts are available to businesses that subscribe to a bundle of Verizon business-level services.

All DSL business packages include the high-speed connection, six domain name e-mail boxes (yourname@yourcompany.com), 20 hours of free remote dial-up access and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Technical Definitions

DSL service generally is available to homes and offices located within approximately three miles of Verizon's local switching center or "central office." Some technical limitations may interfere with the ability of individual telephone lines to get DSL, even when the lines are within three miles of a DSL-equipped central office.

Downstream and upstream speeds describing Verizon Online's DSL services are maximum connection speeds between the customer's computer and Verizon's DSL equipment. Actual connection speeds may vary from the maximum speeds and may be lower than the advertised line rate. Throughput (download and upload) speeds will be lower than connection speeds and vary based on the telephone line's condition and distance from Verizon's central office, home or office wiring and the server or router speed of sites visited on the Internet, among other issues.

Verizon Communications

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 more than 139 million access line equivalents and 36 million Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon is the third largest long-distance carrier for U.S. consumers, with nearly 16 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.

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