Roto-Rooter Keeps Customer-Service Calls Flowing Freely With New Verizon Business VoIP Offering

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - Roto-Rooter, the largest provider of plumbing services in North America, needed to more quickly and efficiently route customer calls to its call centers. An innovative IP call-forwarding solution from Verizon Business helps Roto-Rooter provide outstanding service to its customers. Under a new three-year contract, Verizon Business is enabling the Cincinnati-based company to manage incoming calls dialed to local telephone numbers, using the same call routing, treatment and management capabilities typically used to connect toll-free calls to call centers. The new solution replaces Roto-Rooter's remote call-forwarding setup, which the company had been using to transfer customer calls to its call centers. Verizon VoIP phone service for Local Originations gives Roto-Rooter unprecedented visibility and control of its inbound traffic across all locations while enabling the company to maintain a local presence with a local phone number. This is especially important for Roto- Rooter since roughly three quarters of its employees work outside an office location. Verizon VoIP Inbound with Local Originations enables Roto-Rooter to give the appearance of a virtual office wherever the company has a service truck. "Over the past 75 years, Roto-Rooter has established itself as the premier provider of plumbing and drain-cleaning services, due in no small part to our ability to quickly and efficiently handle our customers' most pressing needs," said Robb Thomas, Director of Communications, Roto-Rooter. "With this innovative IP offering we can handle incoming calls more quickly, reroute traffic if needed, and better respond to periods of high call volume by balancing traffic across our network." Roto-Rooter will use the Verizon Enterprise Center, a secure 24 x 7 global customer portal, to self-manage its call routing. About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees - enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world's largest businesses and governments - including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions - rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com. VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.