'AT&T Unlimited' Callers Expected to Talk, and Talk, and Talk Some More On Mother's Day.

Business Editors

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2002

Since the introduction of AT&T Unlimited, it's never been more economical to keep in touch with mom on Mother's Day. In addition to the bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolates that will undoubtedly be sent to mom this year, millions of people will send their love long distance with a phone call.

The fact that Mother's Day is traditionally the busiest calling holiday for the AT&T Worldwide Intelligent Network confirms that the quality, reliability and simplicity of a phone call still can't be beat. With new innovative long distance offers like AT&T Unlimited, the company expects consumers to call mom in big numbers this year - and to talk longer than ever. AT&T Unlimited enables subscribers to make as many domestic long distance calls to other AT&T long distance households to talk for as long as they like, anytime they want for just $19.95 a month.

In addition to the traditional long distance calls to mom, many consumers will also use the Internet to send Mother's Day greetings this year. Rather than send a greeting card, many AT&T WorldNet* Service customers will send mom an up-close and personal video e-mail greeting. Video e-mail is a fun and easy way to send mom a personal video and voice message. Mom can actually "see" and hear from loved ones on her special day. It's as simple as click, record and send.

AT&T said Mother's Day is the busiest calling holiday of the year, surpassing Christmas, Father's Day and Easter Sunday.

Although Mother's Day ranks number one for holiday calling, volume is still much less than an average business day, when the AT&T Worldwide Intelligent Network carries an average of 300 million calls.

And, it appears that "mother knows best" when it comes to getting the calls, not the charges. Father's Day holds the distinction for being the heaviest day for collect calling. Mother's Day ranks second.

Mother's Day calling patterns differ significantly from typical business day traffic, with more calls routed off of the primary city-to-city routes and to areas of the country with pockets of retirement communities such as Florida and the Southwest. Holiday calls also are typically longer than those placed on a business day.

AT&T said customers should not have any difficulty completing calls. However, some isolated congestion may occur during the busy hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (EDT), especially on calls to the Sun Belt states of Arizona, California, Florida and Texas.

      TOP HOLIDAYS FOR LONG DISTANCE CALLING

1. Mother's Day
2. Christmas Day
3. Father's Day
4. Easter Sunday
5. New Year's Day
6. Thanksgiving

NETWORK CALLING FACTS AND FIGURES:

-- On an average business day, the AT&T network handles some 300 million calls.


-- The Monday following the long Thanksgiving weekend traditionally generates
the highest calling volume of the year.

-- Holiday calling patterns are significantly different than those on a typical
day. On an average day, the majority of calls travel from one metropolitan
business center to another; however, on holidays the calls are more evenly
spread across the entire network.

-- The average business call is 3 minutes long, while the typical consumer call
runs more than eight minutes. Most holiday calls are consumer-oriented and
generally run several minutes longer than the eight-minute average.

For more information or to enroll in AT&T Unlimited, please visit www.att.com/unlimited or call 1-800-REACH OUT. For more information on AT&T WorldNet(R) Service Internet Video E-Mail visit www.att.net or call 1-800-WORLDNET.

AT&T (www.att.com) is among the world's premier voice, video and data communications companies, serving consumers, businesses and government. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company runs the largest, most sophisticated communications network and is the largest cable operator in the U.S. The company is a leading supplier of data, Internet and managed services for the public and private sectors, and offers outsourcing, consulting and networking-integration to large businesses and government. Serving nearly 60 million consumers, AT&T is a market leader in consumer communications services and operates AT&T WorldNet(R) Service, a leading Internet access service that has garnered several awards for outstanding performance and customer service.