[September 14, 2004] Helpful Hurricane Hints for BellSouth Small Business Customers ATLANTA, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- BellSouth today announced that it is ready for Hurricane Ivan, and offers some helpful hints for BellSouth small business customers caught in the potential path of Ivan's storm. "BellSouth sent more than 500 technicians to aid our Florida team in helping our customers stay connected," said David Scobey - president, BellSouth Small Business Services. "In addition, we want to offer our customers a sampling of helpful hints to consider as they prepare for the storm and its ramifications." BellSouth services that may be helpful during the hurricane include: * 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. * BellSouth's CrisisLink(SM) service for businesses, which requires a seven-day installation process, 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. Key BellSouth tips to remember during hurricanes and other major storms: 1. 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. 2. 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. 3. 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. 4. If a BellSouth customer has a repair request, log on to http://www.bellsouth.com/smallbusiness/help/writeus/repair/ , fill out the simple form and a BellSouth service representative will promptly respond to your request. About BellSouth Corporation BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., 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(R) and The Real Yellow Pages(R). More information about BellSouth Small Business Services can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com/smallbusiness . BellSouth Corporation CONTACT: J. Elyse Hammett of BellSouth, +1-404-829-8892, [email protected] Web site: http://www.bellsouth.com/http://www.bellsouthcorp.com/emergencyhttp://www.bellso uth.com/smallbusinesshttp://www.bellsouth.com/smallbusiness/help/writeus/repair/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/095650.html [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]