Verizon Upgrades Brockton Switching Center To Enhance Service for Consumers and Businesses in Massachusetts

BROCKTON, Mass. -- Verizon customers in and around Brockton will benefit from more than $1.4 million worth of upgrades in the company's local switching center. The building, located on Crescent Street, houses a digital switch, a state-of-the-art computer that routes calls to their destinations and provides popular products ranging from voice mail to Caller ID.

The upgrades, scheduled for completion by early July, will provide more capacity for processing voice and data communications, meeting the rising demand for local and long-distance calling and Internet access. Surfing the Internet has changed the way customers use their telephones, increasing the average length of a call, which in turn requires more switching capacity.

The Brockton switching center serves nearly 62,000 phone lines in the city and parts of several neighboring towns.

"This project demonstrates Verizon's commitment to build and maintain an advanced telecommunications network throughout the Bay State," said Donna Cupelo, region president Verizon Massachusetts/Rhode Island. "We continue to invest in our state-of-the-art infrastructure to maintain service excellence, as well to provide a platform for high-speed access to the Internet, work-at-home capabilities and a host of other advanced services."

That infrastructure also supports Verizon's long-distance services, which have become very popular in the last year since the company began offering long distance in the Bay State.

"Whether we're making significant network upgrades or offering new services such as long distance, Verizon is helping consumers and businesses make progress every day," said Cupelo.

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 133.8 million access line equivalents and approximately 29.6 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. With more than $67 billion in annual revenues and nearly 248,000 employees, 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.

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