The class has been certified in an action filed against Bell Atlantic Corporation (now known as Verizon Communications, Inc.) on behalf of New York customers who subscribed to the telephone company's high-speed Internet service. The action alleges that Bell Atlantic violated New York's consumer protection statutes by mis-advertising its Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL, service. The action seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Bell Atlantic began offering DSL service in 1999, allegedly advertising the new service as fast, reliable, easy to install and easy to use. Allegedly, the company claimed that its DSL service was up to 126 times faster than a 56K modem and would provide uninterrupted service, allowing customers to use the phone and the Internet simultaneously--and it hawked its technical support as "unbelievable." Bell Atlantic Corporation later was renamed Verizon Communications, Inc. after a corporate merger.

The action alleges that Bell Atlantic was unprepared to meet initial customer demand and its customers paid the price. As a result of the onslaught of new customers and lack of infrastructure, the company's DSL service allegedly was occasionally even slower than a 56K modem and suffered numerous interruptions for hours and sometimes days.

The action alleges that technical support was also extraordinarily shoddy. Allegedly, the company did not train its employees in installation techniques and support strategies. Customers were allegedly forced to wait for a half hour on hold before being connected to a service representative, and sometimes much longer.