1-888-PB-DAMAGE Offers Pacific Bell Customers Quick Information on Major Outages; Toll-free number provides timely, area-specific news regarding status, estimated restoration time for interrupted service.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 1997--When a wide-spread phone service outage occurs, the last thing you want to be doing is ticking off minute after minute waiting on a wireless or coin phone to talk to someone about why your home phone doesn't work.

Starting today, Pacific Bell customers can simply dial toll free 1-888-PB-DAMAGE to find out the cause and estimated restoration time of a problem affecting 200 or more customers, such as those resulting from last January's floods.

When calling the nationwide toll-free number, callers are prompted to enter the area code and prefix of the affected line. The service then provides a 60-second status report on any outage in that area.

The new service restoration information system can accommodate more than 12,000 calls per minute, avoiding the need for customers to dial 611 and wait on hold for a trouble-report technician if their trouble is part of a larger problem. 1-888-PB-DAMAGE provides customers -- as well as their out-of-state friends and family -- timely information about telephone outages by offering updates every two to three hours until the network is up and running, again.

Customers who dial the toll-free number, but determine their phone trouble is unrelated to any other problem, can simply press one button to speak directly with a Pacific Bell 611 technician.

"In the past, during major service interruptions, our customers had no other way to find out about what's wrong with their phone service during a widespread outage than to call 611," said Fred Pifer, regional manager for Pacific Bell's service operations group. "This meant our repair centers were deluged with calls and customers were inconvenienced by a potentially lengthy hold. With 888-PB-DAMAGE, customers can receive a current update on the status of their service, while still having the option of talking to a repair center employee if they want."

In addition, customers who initially dial 611 will receive a prompt offering them the opportunity to access the outage information service without redialing.

Pacific Bell is a subsidiary of SBC Communications Inc., an international leader in the telecommunications industry, with more than 31 million access lines and 4.7 million wireless customers across the United States, as well as investments in telecommunications businesses in nine countries. Under the Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell and Cellular One brands, the company, through its subsidiaries, offers a wide range of innovative services, including local and long-distance telephone service, wireless communications, paging, Internet access, cable TV and messaging, as well as telecommunications equipment, and directory advertising and publishing. SBC (www.sbc.com) has approximately 110,000 employees. SBC and Pacific Telesis Group reported combined 1996 revenues of $23.5 billion.

CONTACT: Pacific Bell

Scott E. Smith, 415/394-3624

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