Verizon to stop
renting phones

The firm will allow the
53,000 current isle users to
keep their devices at no cost

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Star-Bulletin staff

Some 53,000 residential and business customers of Verizon Hawaii will get a free telephone next week when the company leaves the business of renting phones on May 31.

Verizon is not asking for its phones back to avoid the hassle of collecting them, a spokesman said. Any future repairs, however, will be the customer's problem.

Formerly known as GTE Hawaiian Tel, Verizon Hawaii is a wholly owned subsidiary of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., the company formed when Bell Atlantic Corp. bought GTE Corp. for $75 billion in June 2000.

Bell Atlantic, which primarily served the East Coast, did not rent phones and Verizon wanted to have a standard policy nationwide.

Also, demand for rental service has fallen in recent years, the company said.

Those who rent their phones in Hawaii represent 8 percent of Verizon's 660,000 subscribers statewide.

When phone service was first offered -- 1883 for Hawaii -- all customers were required to rent their sets from the phone companies, but that ended in the landmark breakup of AT&T in 1984.

Verizon's monthly rental prices most recently ranged from $5 to $17, depending on the type of phone and equipment.