Forget the phone; surf to the phone company

Having trouble getting through to that toll-free number when you want to reach out and touch the phone company?

The phone company has a new idea: Hang up the receiver and go online.

Verizon Communications has retooled its Web site to allow customers, for the first time, to pay bills online. They also can take the cyberspace route to establish telephone service, choose a new phone number from several available numbers, review their bill, subscribe to or disconnect special calling features such as Caller ID, report trouble on a telephone line or check a phone number to find a subscriber's name.

They can even use the Web site (www.verizon.com) to order a phone book.

Asked about the phone company steering people to use the Internet instead of the telephone, Verizon spokesman Bob Elek laughed and said using an old-fashioned phone is still an option. "What it's really all about is giving people as many options as possible," he said.

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