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AT&T Offers Local Residential Phone Services in Florida and Adds DSL

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 November 2003, 06:00 CST

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T today announced that it is entering the Florida local residential phone market, focusing first on customers currently served by BellSouth. Additionally, the company announced it now offers DSL service as part of its local-long distance residential phone offer in Michigan, Indiana, and Texas.

"Consumers in these states now can reap the benefits of local competition by taking advantage of AT&T's local calling plans," said Kevin Crull, senior vice president, AT&T Consumer. "We're delighted to be able to offer them the ability to choose from a number of local phone service plans that have been designed to meet their communications needs from one of the most respected communications companies in the nation."

AT&T will offer a variety of local and long distance calling plans to Floridians that best suit their needs. For example, one of its most popular plans includes the following for a monthly plan fee of $26.95:

* Unlimited local calling.

* A choice of three features, such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, 3-Way

Calling, Call Return or Call Forwarding.

* A single, simple-to-read bill for local and long distance calls.

* One phone number to call for all customer service needs.

* Consumers who only want two features can select another popular plan for

$24.95.

For an additional $3.95 per month, customers can bundle their local plan with the long distance calling plan AT&T Local One Rate(R) Plus, and pay just 7 cents a minute for all their domestic, direct-dialed long distance and local toll calls.

Residential customers in Florida can also take advantage of AT&T's newest bundled calling plan, AT&T One Rate USA(SM). For a monthly plan fee of $54.95, customers can get their choice of a number of popular calling features along with unlimited local and long distance voice calls within the United States.

Floridians who switch their local residential service from BellSouth to AT&T will be able to keep their existing phone number in most cases, and AT&T will pay all switching charges.

The DSL offer, which utilizes a nationwide data network provided by Covad Communications, enables consumers to bundle AT&T's DSL service with other AT&T local and long distance services. The ability to bundle AT&T DSL service is based on a process called line splitting, which involves AT&T "splitting" the loop it buys from the Bells to offer AT&T local, long distance and DSL service on the same line. Line splitting for large volumes of customers is an innovative process that gives consumers more choice for high-speed Internet access.

Consumers can choose the standard AT&T DSL plan for the price of a dial-up Internet connection -- $19.95 a month for the first three months -- and $39.95 a month thereafter. Or, consumers can choose the preferred AT&T DSL plan and enjoy even faster premium speeds. Consumers who choose the preferred plan get a $20 discount off of the regular price for the first three months. The preferred plan is available for $49.95 a month thereafter. Both plans offer consumers the following:

* Significant savings for the first three months

* 20 hours a month of national dial-up Internet access (great for

travelers)

* 30-day money back guarantee

* A free installation kit (a $149 value) that includes a plug-and-play

modem

* Free live tech support

In addition, consumers have the added convenience and simplicity of one-stop shopping and a single bill for their AT&T local, long distance and Internet services.

Installing DSL is simple. In fact, the free self-installation kit won an award because it's very easy to use. With the kit, customers can be up and running in only a few short minutes. And there's no rewiring or drilling required because DSL works on the existing phone line.

AT&T DSL Service includes AT&T Worldnet(R) Service, an award-winning, high-quality ISP. AT&T Worldnet Service has received numerous awards for performance and customer satisfaction and was the first national ISP to provide free anti-virus, anti-spam and pop-up protection as a standard feature of its service.

"Regulators so far have resisted enormous pressure from incumbent monopolies to scuttle federal Telecom Act provisions that are just now allowing us to bring more choice and new services to residential customers," noted Crull. "Consumers win with competition.

"The FCC decision earlier this year found that the existing rules still are necessary for competition to exist. We're banking on regulatory decisions at the state level in the next nine months that will continue policies that allow consumers a competitive choice for local phone service. They will be critical to the future of competition," he added.

AT&T now offers local-long distance service bundles in 21 states and DSL as part of its communications bundle in 8 states with plans to roll out the new service in all states in which it provides bundled local and long distance residential services. The company provides local phone service to more than 3.5 million consumers and expects to expand its footprint by testing or marketing its bundled local and long distance services in 35 states by year-end.

In a 2002 J.D. Power and Associates study of residential local telephone service providers, AT&T Consumer ranked highest in local service customer satisfaction among all major carriers with more than one million customers. In fact, the J.D. Power and Associates study showed that AT&T Consumer ranked highest in the quality of its offers, and in its ability to resolve customer problems on the first try.

The study placed AT&T Consumer ahead of 11 other local service providers, behind only smaller Cincinnati Bell, which serves fewer than 700,000 households in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

AT&T also ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction among consumers who spend more than $30 per month on long distance calls, according to the 2003 J.D. Power and Associates Residential Long Distance Customer Satisfaction Study.

AT&T provides a wide selection of Business Class DSL services to accommodate the needs of large and small businesses in these same states. AT&T Business DSL offers asymmetric service speeds such as 1.5/384 Kbps and higher symmetric speeds up to 1.5/1.5 Mbs. For more information on AT&T's Business Class DSL services, customers can visit http://www.att.com/business.

To sign up for AT&T residential local service in Florida, consumers can call toll-free 1 800 ATT 4 ALL, or for more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.att.com/home. Consumers interested in signing up for AT&T DSL Service can call 1-800-WORLDNET, or visit http://www.att.net/dsl.

About AT&T

AT&T (http://www.att.com/) is among the premier voice and data communications companies in the world, serving businesses, consumers, and government. The company runs one of the most sophisticated communications networks in the U.S., backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs. A leading supplier of data, Internet and managed services for the public and private sectors, AT&T offers outsourcing and consulting to large businesses and government. The company is a market leader in local, long distance and Internet services, as well as transaction-based services like prepaid cards, collect calling and directory assistance. With approximately $37 billion of revenue, AT&T has about 40 million residential customers and 4 million business customers, who depend on AT&T for high-quality communications. AT&T has garnered several awards for outstanding performance and customer service.

About Covad Communications

Covad is a leading national broadband service provider of high-speed Internet and network access utilizing Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology. It offers DSL, T1, managed security, IP and dial-up services and bundled voice and data services directly through Covad's network and through Internet Service Providers, value-added resellers, telecommunications carriers and affinity groups to small and medium-sized businesses and home users. Covad services are currently available across the United States in 96 of the top Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Covad's network currently covers more than 40 million homes and business and reaches approximately 45 percent of all US homes and businesses. Corporate headquarters is located at 3420 Central Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051. Telephone: 1-888-GO-COVAD. Web Site: http://www.covad.com/.

AT&T 'Safe Harbor'

The foregoing are "forward-looking statements" which are based on management's beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by and information currently available to management. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside AT&T's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference, please see AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide additional information to further understand the results of AT&T.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT )