March 28, 1996

NYNEX CONTACT: Media Relations, (212) 395-0500

Millions of NYNEX Customers Using PHONESMART Products -- Including Caller ID

NEW YORK, NY -- More than 3.5 million times each month -- or more than 80 times every minute -- NYNEX customers in New York and New England activate the company's Repeat Dialing and Call Return features.

These products, part of the company's PhoneSmart/Caller ID( family of features, are automatically available on most customers' lines for a per-use fee. They're also available on a monthly, unlimited-use subscription basis.

NYNEX also announced today that the purchase of monthly subscriptions to PhoneSmart products has passed the one million mark. The company began selling all the products in 1990 in New England and 1992 in New York State.

The company now has sold more than 1.3 million monthly subscriptions to PhoneSmart features. The most popular PhoneSmart product is Caller ID, which is used by some 750,000 customers in New England and New York State.

Strong growth in PhoneSmart services is part of the overall 50-percent growth in value-added service revenues NYNEX experienced during 1995. In addition to PhoneSmart products, added-value services include Voice Mail, Voice Messaging and Voice Dialing.

"The popularity of these products with our customers demonstrates their value in terms of managing calls coming into and leaving a customer's home," said Amy McIntosh, NYNEX vice president for product development and management. "The substantial use of Call Return and Repeat Dialing on an as-needed basis underscores that we were on the right track when we decided to offer these products via the non-traditional, per-use basis in addition to monthly subscriptions."

New PhoneSmart Products Available Soon

"And we're not stopping here," McIntosh added "We recently began selling in New York State newly developed PhoneSmart products, such as Caller ID With Name -- which displays the name and number of incoming calls -- and Call Manager, a collection of enhancements that enable Caller ID to work with Call Waiting and Call Answering.

"The new Caller ID enhancements will not only display the name and number of the person calling but it will also allow you to manage the call," she said. "Customers will be able to conference the call-waited call, place it on hold, or send the call to our Call Answering voice mail service and have the caller receive a message.

"We've already begun selling these products in the Poughkeepsie area, and we plan to introduce them across the Northeast later this year."

Information on the new and existing PhoneSmart products is available by calling the NYNEX business office. Telephone numbers for NYNEX's business offices are located in customer's monthly phone bills and in the front pages of the NYNEX telephone directories.

The four original PhoneSmart products -- Caller ID, Repeat Dialing, Call Return and Call Trace -- are available in most areas of New York State and the five New England states served by NYNEX. One hundred percent deployment of the products is expected next year.

Privacy Safeguards

For customers who choose to prevent their number and/or name from being displayed on a Caller ID display device, NYNEX has two no-cost options for New York State and New England customers. On a per-call basis, customers may dial "*67" (1167 on a rotary phone) before they dial a number and their number will not be displayed for that call only. This free service is called Per Call Blocking. Customers also can order All Call Blocking, which automatically prevents their number from being displayed on all calls. All Call Blocking can be temporarily turned off on a per-call basis by dialing "*82" (1182 on a rotary phone).

(Caller ID is marketed as Call ID in New York, pending New York Public Service Commission approval to change the name to Caller ID.)

NYNEX is a global communications and media company that provides a full range of services in the northeastern United States and high-growth markets around the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Corporation is a leader in the telecommunications, wireless communications, cable television, directory publishing and entertainment and information services.

FAX copies of recent NYNEX news releases are available free of charge, 24 hours a day. Call 1-800-331-1214 and an automated system will provide instructions.

return to news archive