Bell Atlantic Offers Help With Telecom Milestones

• 1878: Boston's first telephone book is issued. It contains only
  the names of 67 firms since numbers are not yet used.

• 1879: West Virginia's first phone line was installed in Wheeling,
  the same year Maine, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia established
  their first exchanges, allowing customers to easily reach their neighbors by
  calling operators who then connected the calls.

• 1890: The first coin phone was introduced in New York City.

• 1900: Callers in Cambridge, Mass., became the first in New
  England to reach an operator using a battery-powered phone rather than a
  hand crank phone.

• 1922: A mechanical switch makes it possible for New Yorkers
  in the Pennsylvania "6" exchange to make local calls by
  dialing instead of first calling the operator. That same year, Mr. Bell dies
  and during his funeral all phone service in the U.S. and Canada is halted
  for one minute, something that would be unimaginable today.

• 1927: Transatlantic phone service is established between New
  York and London.

• 1934: In the midst of the depression, Congress passes the
  Communications Act of

• 1934 which sets a goal of making
  telephone service available at an affordable rate to every household.

• 1947: Mobile telephone service was made available along the
  Boston-Washington highway, and a Boston-New York microwave radio
  system made possible a new way to transmit telephone, radio, and
  television signals. Area codes are created.

• 1951: New Jersey residents can now directly dial numbers in
  California without using an operator. A payphone call in New York City
  goes from a nickel to a dime.

• 1964: Touch-tone service introduced in Wellesley, Mass.

• 1966: Call Forwarding and Call Waiting are tested for the first
  time in Wellesley, Mass.

• 1984: Bell Atlantic, NYNEX and five other "Baby
  Bells" were formed as a result of the break-up of AT&T. As a result,
  phone customers would have one company providing local phone service
  and another providing long-distance service.

• 1988: Bell Atlantic was first in the nation to offer Caller ID
  service in New Jersey.

• 1990: Delaware becomes the first state with border-to-border
  cellular phone service from Bell Atlantic Mobile.

• 1993: NYNEX introduces voice-activated dialing in New York
  and other Northeast states. West Virginia becomes 100 percent digitally
  switched.

• 1996: Bell Atlantic Mobile installs the nation's first digital
  network using Call Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology.
  NYNEX announces BigYellowsm, an online, interactive directory listing
  businesses nationwide.

• 1996: Congress passes the Telecommunications Act of

• 1996, which called for opening telecommunications markets to
  competition. The Act opened the door for Bell Atlantic and other Bell
  companies to offer long-distance service as soon as they showed they have
  opened their local markets. When that happens, phone customers will
  once again be able to get their local and long-distance service from one
  company.

• 1997: Bell Atlantic-NYNEX merge, creating the largest local
  phone company in the nation, serving from Maine to Virginia.

• 1998: Bell Atlantic began offering a high-speed Internet
  connection using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology. Bell Atlantic
  and GTE agreed to merge, creating what will become the leading U.S.
  wireline and wireless carrier. Bell Atlantic's New England region
  becomes 100 percent digitally switched.

• 1999: Bell Atlantic and Vodafone Airtouch announced
  formation of the largest wireless business in the country. Also, Bell
  Atlantic sought approval from the Federal Communications Commission
  to offer long-distance service in New York.

CONTACTS:
Delaware - Ells Edwards, 302-576-5340
Maine - Peter Reilly, 207-797-1335
Maryland - Sandy Arnette, 410-393-7109
Massachusetts - Jack Hoey, 617-743-4760
New Hampshire - Erle Pierce, 603-641-1651
New Jersey - Soraya Rodriguez , 973-649-2279
New York City - John Bonomo, 212-395-0500
New York State - Cliff Lee, 518-396-1095
Pennsylvania - Sharon Shaffer, 215-963-6200
Rhode Island - Lillian McGee, 401-525-2134
Vermont - Joan Jamieson, 802-863-0797
Virginia - Paul Miller, 804-772-1460

Washington, D.C. - Michel Daley, 202-392-1021
West Virginia - Harry Mitchell, 304-344-7562
Bell Atlantic Mobile - Andrea Linskey, 908-306-7845
Directory Group - Phil Santoro, 978-762-1326