New England Telephone
Encyclopedia
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
area of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a part of the original AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
for seven decades, from the creation of the national monopoly in 1907 until January 1, 1984, when AT&T was divested of its local operating companies. It became part of NYNEX
NYNEX
NYNEX Corporation was a telephone company that served five New England states as well as most of New York state, except the Rochester area, from 1984 through 1997....
on that date, and from 1994 the name was no longer officially publicly used (although it was still used internally for portions of operations).
Through a variety of mergers and acquisitions its operations were successively part of NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, and Verizon. As of April 1, 2008, its operations in the three northern New England states were sold to FairPoint Communications
FairPoint Communications
FairPoint Communications, Inc. is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and operates communication services in 32 markets in 18 states, mostly in rural areas....
under the operation of Northern New England Telephone Operations
Northern New England Telephone Operations
Northern New England Telephone Operations LLC is a telephone operating company founded in 2007 to take over the land lines in Maine and New Hampshire formerly operated by Verizon New England, a Bell Operating Company...
and the Telephone Operating Company of Vermont
Telephone Operating Company of Vermont
Telephone Operating Company of Vermont LLC is a telephone operating company owned by Northern New England Telephone Operations, a subsidiary of FairPoint....
. Telephone operations in southern New England remain with Verizon.
The headquarters of New England Telephone was located at 185 Franklin Street in the Post Office Square
Post Office Square, Boston, Massachusetts
Post Office Square in Boston, Massachusetts is located in the financial district at the intersection of Milk, Congress, Pearl and Water Streets. It was named in 1874 after the post office which fronted it, now replaced by the John W...
area of Boston's Financial District
Financial District, Boston, Massachusetts
The Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts, United States is located in the downtown area near Government Center and Chinatown.Like many areas within Boston, the Financial District has no official definition. It is roughly bounded by Atlantic Avenue, State Street, and Devonshire Street...
. As of 2009, the building is still used by Verizon Communications, but it has been sold.
Its slogan and jingle was "We're the one for you, New England. New England Telephone."
Despite the similarity of names, the company has no connection to an earlier New England Telephone and Telegraph Company
New England Telephone and Telegraph Company
The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company was a very early company set up to develop the then-new telephone.New England Telephone and Telegraph lasted only a year as a separate entity, from 1878 to 1879, and had no direct relationship with the later company of the same name, which after the...
, a short-lived company that dissolved in 1879, although at least through 1965 the legal business name of New England Telephone was The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company. It also had no connection to Southern New England Telephone (SNET) which covered Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and small parts of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. (Verizon has operations in a small part of Connecticut, but that is considered part of New York Telephone
New York Telephone
The New York Telephone Company was organized in 1896, taking over the New York City operations of the American Bell Telephone Company.-Predecessor companies:...
.)