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Sprint Assists Communities With Phone Stations, Wireless Calls

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 September 2004, 06:00 CDT

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- As Sprint technicians work around the clock to restore service to Florida residents affected by Hurricane Frances, the company has installed mobile pay phone stations at various locations and is offering free local calls.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001013/SPRINTLOGO )

Sprint has installed two mobile pay phone stations in Volusia County for customers to be able to reach out to family and friends. Each pay station has four pay phones and offers free local and limited long-distance calls. The mobile units are located at:

-- Orange City, Kmart Shopping Plaza, corner of Saxon and Enterprise

roads.

-- Deltona, Dupont Lakes Park, 1711 Elkam Boulevard

Additionally, Sprint volunteers donning red shirts are manning shelter and food-distribution sites in Broward, Palm Beach, and Orange counties with Sprint PCS Phones offering free wireless calls to residents who do not have phone service.

Restoration Effort Continues

In the meantime, Sprint technicians continue to work feverishly to restore service to customers in the area. Currently there are approximately 55,000 lines out of service compared with 98,000 yesterday and more than 174,000 the day before.

Meanwhile, significant progress has been made in restoring wireless service to impacted areas. Portable generators are moving between cell sites, charging batteries. In most markets, wireless service in nearly back to normal. However, the Southeast Florida region which was hardest hit by the hurricane, remains affected by the storm.

Customers are encouraged to contact Sprint customer service to report outages. Customers can call either of the following phone numbers to report outages:

-- 1-800-788-3600 or visit http://www.sprint.com/ to report service

problems.

-- 1-888-723-8010 if they need service for temporary living arrangements.

-- 1-888-211-4727 if they have questions regarding wireless service.

Tips for Customers

Sprint is encouraging its local customers to try a little "trouble shooting" before they call in a trouble ticket. Here are some recommendations on phone problems and possible fixes:

-- Cordless phones will not work during a commercial power outage. Use a

traditional corded telephone or a wireless phone.

-- Customers hearing noise and static on their telephone line should

disconnect all of their telephones and related equipment (answering

machines, computers, fax, caller-ID devices, etc.) and wait at least

one minute before reconnecting each of the devices, one at a time, to

see if the trouble still exists. Check for dial tone as each phone is

plugged in. If the problem stops, it is most likely associated with a

specific telephone or related equipment.

-- Customers who aren't receiving incoming calls even though they have

dial tone should try deactivating the call-forwarding feature that

might have inadvertently been activated. Customers should try dialing

*73 (or 1173 from a rotary-dial telephone) to disable this feature.

Caution to Customers Cleaning Up

Sprint asks customers who are cleaning up their homes and neighborhoods to avoid piling refuse and debris for garbage pickup near telephone terminals located curbside on neighborhood streets. This will help avoid front-end loaders and other large machinery from potentially damaging Sprint equipment during pick-up service.

About Sprint

Sprint is a global integrated communications provider serving more than 26 million customers in over 100 countries. With more than $26 billion in annual revenues in 2003, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state-of-the-art network technologies, including the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and an award- winning Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint provides local communications services in 39 states and the District of Columbia and operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.sprint.com/ .

EDITOR'S NOTE: Please visit http://www.sprint.com/mediarelations forupdated information on Sprint's preparation and restoration efforts as well aspertinent consumer information.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001013/SPRINTLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Sprint

CONTACT: Nanci Schwartz, +1-305-788-8256,nanci.p.schwartz@mail.sprint.com , or Charles Fleckenstein, +1-913-226-4132,charles.m.fleckenstein@mail.sprint.com , both of Sprint

Web site: http://www.sprint.com/

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