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Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is an American broadband and telecommunications company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was formed in 2000 when Bell Atlantic, one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies, merged with GTE. Prior to its transformation into Verizon, Bell Atlantic had merged with another Regional Bell Operating Company, NYNEX, in 1997. The name is a portmanteau of veritas and horizon .

History

Verizon was founded in 1983 as Bell Atlantic Corporation by AT&T Corporation as one of seven Baby Bells that were formed due to an anti-trust judgement against them. It then inherited one of the seven Bell Operating Companies from American Telephone & Telegraph Company (later known as AT&T Corp.) following its breakup. Bell Atlantic's original roster of operating companies included:

The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
New Jersey Bell Telephone Company
The Diamond State Telephone Company
The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company
The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland
The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia
The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia

Bell Atlantic originally operated in the U.S. states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C.

In 1994, Bell Atlantic became the first Regional Bell Operating Company to entirely drop the original names of its original operating companies. Ameritech and NYNEX (and SBC Communications in 2002) simply added d/b/a names to its operating companies; U S West and BellSouth had merged their operating companies. Operating company titles were simplified to:

Bell Atlantic—Delaware, Inc.
Bell Atlantic—Maryland, Inc.
Bell Atlantic—New Jersey, Inc.
Bell Atlantic—Pennsylvania, Inc.
Bell Atlantic—Virginia, Inc.
Bell Atlantic—Washington, D.C., Inc.
Bell Atlantic—West Virginia, Inc.

In 1996, CEO and Chairman Raymond W. Smith orchestrated Bell Atlantic's merger with NYNEX. When it merged, it moved its corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to New York City. NYNEX was consolidated into this name by 1997.

Prior to its merger with GTE, Bell Atlantic traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the "BEL" symbol.

GTE merger

Bell Atlantic acquired GTE on June 30, 2000 and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. It was among the largest mergers in United States business history. It was the result of a definitive merger agreement, dated July 27, 1998, between Bell Atlantic, based in New York City since the merger with NYNEX in 1996, and GTE, which was in the process of moving its headquarters from Stamford, Connecticut, to Irving, Texas.

The Bell Atlantic–GTE merger, priced at more than $52 billion at the time of the announcement, closed nearly two years later, following analysis and approvals by Bell Atlantic and GTE shareowners, 27 state regulatory commissions and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and clearance from the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) and various international agencies.

The merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, to form Verizon Communications, became effective on June 30, 2000, with an exchange ratio of 1.22 shares of Verizon Communications Common Stock for each share of GTE Common Stock owned. Fractional shares resulting from the exchange of GTE stock into Verizon Communications shares were sold at a price of $55.00 per share. Verizon began trading on the NYSE under its new "VZ" symbol on Monday, July 3, 2000.

Meanwhile, on September 21, 1999, Bell Atlantic and UK-based Vodafone AirTouch Plc (now Vodafone Group Plc) announced that they had agreed to create a new wireless business with a national footprint, a single brand and a common digital technology – composed of Bell Atlantic's and Vodafone's U.S. wireless assets (Bell Atlantic Mobile (which was previously called Bell Atlantic-NYNEX Mobile by 1997), AirTouch Cellular, PrimeCo Personal Communications, and AirTouch Paging). This wireless joint venture received regulatory approval in six months, and began operations as Verizon Wireless on April 4, 2000, kicking off the new "Verizon" brand name. GTE's wireless operations became part of Verizon Wireless – creating what was initially the nation's largest wireless company before Cingular Wireless acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004 – when the Bell Atlantic–GTE merger closed nearly three months later. Verizon then became the majority owner (55%) of Verizon Wireless.

Genuity was formerly the Internet division of GTE Corp and spun off in 2000. Level 3 Communications acquired the assets of the bankrupt ISP in 2002 for only $137 million; a bargain-basement price considering the $616 million that a pre-Bell Atlantic-merger GTE paid for Genuity (then BBN Planet) in 1997.

Merger effects

Note this section refers to land lines only, as Verizon Wireless operates nationwide.

Verizon shares were made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April 8, 2004. Verizon currently has 140.3 million land lines in service. With the MCI merger, it has more than 250,000 employees. Verizon serves customers throughout much of the United States. The primary states that it provides service to include:

Southwestern Connecticut
Delaware
Maryland
Massachusetts*
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania ^†
Rhode Island*
Virginia ^†
West Virginia
Washington, D.C.

These states are served by the following renamed Bell Operating Companies:

Verizon Delaware, Inc. – Also serves a portion of southeastern Pennsylvania
Verizon Maryland, Inc.
Verizon New England Telephone & Telegraph, Inc. – noted with a (*)
Verizon New Jersey, Inc.
Verizon New York Telephone, Inc. – Also serves Southwestern Connecticut
Verizon Pennsylvania, Inc.
Verizon Virginia, Inc.
Verizon Washington, D.C., Inc.
Verizon West Virginia, Inc.

(**) Also served by GTE operating companies (refer below)

It also provides service to secondary markets (mostly from its acquisition of GTE) in:

Arizona ^&
California ^{& ◊}
Florida
Idaho ^◊
Illinois ^†
Indiana ^‡
Michigan ^‡
Nevada ^&
North Carolina*
Ohio ^†
Oregon ^◊
South Carolina*
Texas
Washington ^◊
Wisconsin ^†

These states are served by these operating companies:

GTE Southwest, Inc. dba Verizon Southwest,Inc., which serves only Texas.
GTE Florida, Inc. dba Verizon Florida, Inc.
Verizon South, Inc. (marked with a *)
Verizon North, Inc. (marked with a ^† )
Contel of the South, Inc. dba Verizon Mid-States, Inc. (marked with a ^‡ ) Also served by Verizon North.
Verizon Northwest, Inc.(marked with a ^◊ ) Operations in California do business as "Verizon West Coast, Inc."
Verizon California, Inc. (marked with a ^& )

Many Verizon New England operations were sold to FairPoint Communications on April 1, 2008. Markets included:

Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont

Due to the rigorous climate and high costs, GTE Alaska was sold to Alaska Power and Telephone Company rather than be merged with Verizon.

Verizon also owns stakes in some international communications companies, most notably 23.14% of Vodafone Italy. On April 3, 2006 Verizon agreed to sell its stakes in Verizon Dominicana (operating in the Dominican Republic), CANTV of Venezuela, and Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Inc. (PRT) in Puerto Rico to Telmex and América Móvil for $3.7 billion. Verizon's other international investment is 50% ownership of Gibraltar NYNEX Communications.

In 2002, Verizon sold GTE's former telephone operations in 3 states: Missouri and Alabama operations were sold to CenturyTel, and Kentucky operations were sold to Alltel, which later spun off its landline operations as Windstream. In 2005, Verizon sold off GTE's former telephone operations in Hawaii to The Carlyle Group, This operation is now known as Hawaiian Telcom. As of January 16, 2007, Verizon's operations in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont are going to be split off into a new Bell Operating Company, spun off, and merged with FairPoint Communications.

In 2006 Verizon moved its headquarters from New York City to Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

MCI acquisition

On February 14, 2005, Verizon agreed to acquire MCI, formerly WorldCom, after SBC Communications agreed to acquire AT&T Corp. just a fe

VZ Navigator, Verizon's branded cell phone GPS service, features accurate turn-by-turn directions, navigation, live traffic alerts with detouring options, and weather and gas-price searching by location (along the route, by specific address, or even by airport proximity). Movie and event reviews are also available.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Verizon Wireless is partnering with several Alabama organizations to collect cell phones to donate to abuse victims.

We put GPS navigation applications from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless to the test on BlackBerry Curves. All did fine, but AT&T was the winner.

If you want the full qwerty keypbard on your phone, but have been put off by the previously bad performance of this model - you might want to check out this review. Apparently Verizon has addressed the phone's previous issues and has come out with an awesome version this time.

rdcopper asks: "i have had a verizon cell phone for 3 or 4 years. i need to get a new one. someone i know said that b/c i had the plan for that long that i can get an upgrade and get a new phone for free? is that true? if so what kind of phone can i get and is there anything that i would have to pay for and how much? thanks!"

cohan w replies: 'Simply call verizon and see what is available for you to upgrade to most of the time you can either get a free phone or pay alittle more for a better one. what I do is go online the prices listed for one or two year contracts would be the price you would get if you are willing to sign a new contract. Best answer call verizon and just ask.'

Ben replies: 'The best way to answer this question is to advise you to talk to your local Verizon representative. They will be able to tell you based on your account type and the length of your contract.I worked at Radio Shack for a while when they sold Verizon, and from my experience, you will indeed be able to get a new phone, but you will have to sign up for another contract. The amount you will have to pay for the phone will depend on the phone you get and the length of the contract. Usually only two year contracts get free phones, but any contract over 22-24 months will be eligible for a phone upgrade with a new plan.'

tsf_michelle replies: 'ppl usually upgrading their phones online...most ppl have 2 yrs constracts n they are eligible to update their phones 22 months later after signing...since u have had it for 3 or 4 yrs....u may be eligible for a very very expensive phone as low as FREE!! i just upgrade my phone after 22 months....a LG Chocolate retail price is $370, i got it for $130......create an online account at verizonwireless.com....im sure u wont be surprised when u can get the chocolate for free!'

Magggsss asks: "What is a good verizon cell phone that has a built in keyboard? I looked at the EnV but I don't like how the front of it looks."

lauralie5005 replies: 'I know you just said you dont like the EnV but if you cant find a different phone that you like, i highly recommend the EnV its a great phone loaded with features.'

The Ar'tak replies: 'Try taking a look at the Samsung u740. It's got a smaller keyboard than the EnV, and has a "dual-flip" style that allows you to use it as a traditional flip phone for calls and in a layout similar to the EnV for texting and mutli-media. Drawback is that it has a smaller keyboard and some of the buttons can be hard to reach.You can also take a look at the Q or the Blackberry lines, but unless you're looking for the other features of a PDA in addition to the keyboard, you're either going to have to go with the u740 or the EnV, and I'd recommend the u740 overall.'

Ben M replies: 'If you don't like the En-V then try the Q. But it is spendy. There is the Samsung ummmm.... Don't know the number but it flips sideways and length wise. Full keyboard included. There also are PDA's but those can get rather expensive.'

spursfan1694 replies: 'u 740, its got an mp3 player, its small, its sturdy, and its got a good keyboard'

david c replies: 'go toclick phon/plansand you can see the latest phones with built in qwarty keypad.'

facilitymngr asks: "The phone is a Verizon phone and it was bought at Verizon, but when you do a cell phone look up, it comes back saying it belongs to the New Cingular Wireless, PCc. Lls, I think that is it. Could that phone have internet service from AT&T being used on it? Can that Verizon cell phone number be used on both a Verizon phone and an AT&T phone?"

Lynne W replies: 'Cingular bought out Verison.'

McLol replies: 'AT&T has never bought out Verizon. They aren't compatible because Verizon uses one cell technology and AT&T uses a worldwide standard. You can only have one cell phone number for one carrier unless you use GrandCentral which allows you to have only one number. So I'd just say Verizon is doing your billing and is the carrier.'

Patrick replies: 'okay the first guy is wrong verizon bought out Alltell nobody ever bought verizon out... and the phone mite be flashed or something... cingular bought out at&t'

asks: "I'd like to be able to use my old verizon cell phone with my new cingular service. It's a much better phone. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.How do I know if I can transfer the sim card?"

danial w replies: 'unless you can transfer the sim card then your out of luck. Most phones are really only set up to work with certian cell phone networks....'

stanleynem replies: 'You can't. That Verizon phone only works on CDMA networks, while Cingular supports GSM. Find a GSM-capable phone that allows you to use your Cingular SIM card.'

Ben Z replies: 'There is no way to use a Verizon phone with a Cingular one. They go off of different networks and I dont think the Verizon phones have SIM cards.'

hello asks: "My verizon cell phone recently stopped working. My brother (also with verizon) upgraded his phone last week and gave me his old phone, while at the verizon store the clerk told me to go to the verizon website to activate the phone to get my old phone number on it, I found the website but when I enter the "esn" the website will not let me. My brother says that that I can't because my old phone has not been deactivated. So can anyone tell me how to deactivate it?"

GoodGyrl replies: 'What do you mean by 'deactivated'? As in the line is cancelled, or the phone is still on? If your old ESN is still in the switch, it wouldn't matter. The new ESN change would cancel that with your reprogramming the phone after the ESN change. How old is his 'old phone'? It may be that the phone/ESN you're using is so old it is no longer compatible, and thus the change is not going through. Also, check to make sure you're entering the ESN correctly - if you are entering the HEX versus the DEC number, you'll need to specify (the site may default to the DEC, as this is the most commonly used form of the ESN). Other than that, I'd need more info on what's up w/ the status of your MIN, so you'll need to call customer service.'

muffin8415 replies: 'go back to the verizon store and have them do it for you...or do it over the phone...call from your bro's phone if you have to, or a landline'

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