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BellSouth Prepared for 2004 Hurricane Season Offers customers emergency contact information, readiness tips for communications ATLANTA, May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- BellSouth today announced preparations for the 2004 hurricane season that include its ready reliable network and, if necessary, back-up power generators available all along the coastal states in the Southeast in the event of possible electric power failures. "History shows we have had few facility failures with hurricanes and other natural disasters over the last several years," said Rod Odom, President of BellSouth Network Services. "Our customers have learned BellSouth's network is resilient and reliable." "This year we are as ready to serve our customers as ever," Odom continued. "In the event of a hurricane or any other storm, our customers can expect to receive our full attention in maintaining the excellent service they've learned to count on." The first major threat to telecommunications services during and after a storm is an electrical power outage that could cut off service for telecommunications switching offices and area distribution facilities. To prevent such interruption of service, BellSouth provides immediate back-up through batteries followed by electric power provided by diesel-powered electric generators that are either permanently installed in facilities or temporarily stored in warehouses throughout the Southeast. To further insure reliability, the BellSouth network also includes SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) rings that provide instantaneous network redundancy or instantaneous backup connections in the possible event of a fault. And in the rare event of a damaged cable due to storms or flooding, BellSouth maintains radio equipment to regenerate communications signals wherever necessary. Key BellSouth tips to remember during hurricanes and other major storms: - For customers and the news media, BellSouth has compiled a list of emergency contact information on its website at http://www.bellsouthcorp.com/emergency . This information can be downloaded in advance for use as reference. During a hurricane or other severe storm, BellSouth will update the site with status information on the BellSouth network. - As calling volumes increase, customers may experience slow dial tone. If you don't hear a dial tone immediately when you pick up your phone, wait a few seconds and you should get one. If not, hang up and try your call later. - The Community Information section located at the front of The Real Yellow Pages(R) provides many helpful hints, telephone numbers to call for repair service, information for customers with disabilities and more. Many editions, especially in areas known for severe storms, also include the Hurricane and Severe Weather Guide. This valuable resource contains emergency preparedness information for customers concerning hurricane alerts, evacuation procedures, first aid, storm damage clean- up, and more. The Real Yellow Pages can be found in nearly 90 percent of homes throughout the Southeast; inclusion of a Hurricane and Severe Weather Guide is an ideal way to ensure every citizen in those high-risk communities has access to this potentially life-saving information. - If you have a question but cannot find the answer in The Real Yellow Pages, call the number listed for residential or business services depending on your need. A sampling of BellSouth services that may be helpful during hurricanes and other major storms: - BellSouth's CrisisLink(SM) service for businesses can designate alternate routing of voice, data and video communications in the event normal business operations at the usual locations are interrupted. For example, if a major storm causes authorities to evacuate a community where a business is located, a pre-established CrisisLink plan would allow the business to reroute calls to another location. CrisisLink service can also give a business the capability to place test calls during or after a crisis to check the status of the business' regular service or location before returning it to normal operations. And the service can provide a customer with reports on the number of lines affected during a crisis, the number of calls rerouted and downtime experienced. - Remote Access to Call Forwarding allows customers to activate or deactivate Call Forwarding from any telephone equipped with touch tone. - Call Forwarding Don't Answer automatically routes calls that are not answered within a designated number of rings to another pre-selected telephone number. - Call Forwarding Busy Line service automatically routes calls to another pre-selected telephone number when the line is busy. Instead of the caller getting a busy signal, the call is routed to the secondary number. - Memory Call(SM) answering service provides for your calls to be answered and allows the caller to leave a message when you are unable to answer your telephone. You can retrieve the messages from any touch tone telephone. About BellSouth Corporation BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and a parent company of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless voice and data provider. Backed by award winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth Answers(SM), residential and small business customers can bundle their local and long distance service with dial up and high speed DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular(R) Wireless service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers online and directory advertising through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(SM) and The Real Yellow Pages(R). More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com/ . MEDIA CONTACT: Al Schweitzer BellSouth 404-829-8741 DATASOURCE: BellSouth Corporation CONTACT: Al Schweitzer of BellSouth, +1-404-829-8741, or Web site: http://www.bellsouth.com/ http://www.bellsouthcorp.com/emergency

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