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'2 o o tn KJ Verizon: 75% of Lines Restored “0 c CT o' "0 o ro By Pradnya Joshi 9L STAFF WRITER O Verizon Communications said it is continuing to o o restore telephone sei’vice in lower Manhattan and c 3 now estimates that it has service to about 75 percent o 3 of the 300,000 phone lines served out of its 140 West St, building. The phone giant also is reaching out to families who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks by provid­ ing them cassette tapes of their final voice-mail mes­ sages. Verizon is not certain exactly how many unre­ paired phono lines still need to be fixed and how many seiwed buildings have been destroyed, but tech­ nicians are continuing repair efforts, said spokes­ man Jim Smith. “Now, they’re at the hard part,” Smith said, add­ ing that the out-of-seiwice lines will be much more difficult to repair due to cables that may be pinned under buildings or lines that are severely damaged. Technicians are literally reconnecting phones line by line to the company’s computer switches to restore sei-vice. In addition to the lines in the damaged but still-standing West Street office, Verizon said about 32,000 phone line.s operated inside the World Trade Center. However, customers who have either permanently or temporarily lost their office or home phono.s can have their calls rerouted using “call forwarding,” a feature that late last week was restored to lower Manhattan. Verizon is not charging customers in the down­ word can call a Verizon representative, who will ar- And in another reminder of the disaster, Verizon town area monthly fees or setup costs for call for­ range to make a cassette tape of the desired messag- said that in the coming months, phone books will warding. However, customers will have to pay either p , J still contain the old numbers and addresses of World 10.6 cents a call if the number is being forwarded to Trade Center buamessee and ether darnaged baild- another New York City number or long-distance charges if the calls are being forwarded outside the in other parts of the country such as California, pro- conipany will be including a letter on the city or state. vided that the callers are authorized to access the cover explaining that the phone books were printed Verizon also will also send cassette recordings of system. . in advance of the disaster, and also that it is doing so voice-mail messages family and friends received Phone customers can call the Customer-service in hopes of tracking down those businesses and indi- from those affected by the Sept. 11 attacks. Normal­ "TSSq Wireless users can viJuals who have relocated. call 888-466-4646 to request copies of any record- v p j • .v , . ■ . .. • ly, voice-mail messages are only saved for seven to ings. Smith said the company occasionally has pro- “ “® ^ook request it, Ven- 30 days before they are deleted due to the computer vided such recordings from messages of loved ones will either forward calls to a new location or will memory required to store the recordings. who had died but this is the first time the company set up a recording informing callers of the new con- Customers who have the correct voice-mail pass­ will do so on a large scale. tact information.