Verizon New Jersey, Inc., formerly New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, is the

Bell Operating Company The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundre ...

serving the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

. In 1984, the

Bell System Divestiture The breakup of the Bell System was mandated on January 8, 1982, by an agreed consent decree providing that AT&T Corporation would, as had been initially proposed by AT&T, relinquish control of the Bell Operating Companies, which had provided loc ...

split New Jersey Bell off into a

Regional Bell Operating Company The Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) are the result of '' United States v. AT&T'', the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit against the former American Telephone & Telegraph Company (later known as AT&T Corp.). On January 8, 1 ...

, along with the 21 other BOCs

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

had a majority stake in. On January 1, 1984, New Jersey Bell became part of

Bell Atlantic Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas i ...

New Jersey Bell was founded in 1904 as an

company serving southern

, named Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph & Telephone Company.

New York Telephone The New York Telephone Company (NYTel) was organized in 1896, taking over the New York City operations of the American Bell Telephone Company. Predecessor companies The Telephone Company of New York was formed under franchise in 1876. The princi ...

served northern New Jersey. In October 1927, D&A T&T changed its name to New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, and purchased the New Jersey properties of

which had belonged to New York and New Jersey Telephone and Telegraph. Throughout the 1980s to the first half of the 1990s, New Jersey Bell kept its traditional identity. In 1994, Bell Atlantic started rebranding all its companies to Bell Atlantic-(state), so New Jersey Bell became Bell Atlantic - New Jersey, Inc. In 2000, after the Bell Atlantic - GTE merger, the corporation changed its name to

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

, and so New Jersey Bell once again changed its name, this time to Verizon New Jersey, Inc. Verizon New Jersey's headquarters is the

New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building The New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building is located in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The building was built in 1929 by the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Septemb ...

, 540 Broad Street,

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

Innovations and firsts

After

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mul ...

moved from New York to New Jersey, they often installed new technological developments there, before deploying farther afield. *1951 New Jersey Bell was the first Bell Operating Company to deploy

Direct Distance Dialing Direct distance dialing (DDD) is a telecommunication service feature in North America by which a caller may, without operator assistance, call any other user outside the local calling area. Direct dialing by subscribers typically requires extra d ...

for

long-distance telephone call In telecommunications, a long-distance call (U.S.) or trunk call (also known as a toll call in the U.K. ) is a telephone call made to a location outside a defined local calling area. Long-distance calls are typically charged a higher billing rate ...

s in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from po ...

. Previously, all long-distance calls had to be handled through an operator. *1965 The first installation of the first

Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundr ...

electronic switching system, the

Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...

1ESS, was installed at New Jersey Bell's Succasuna central office. Prior to the 1ESS switch, switching was achieved under electromechanical control. *1987 New Jersey Bell was the first to introduce

Caller ID Caller identification (Caller ID) is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call i ...

service. The first Caller ID box was sold at a

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

store in

Jersey City, NJ Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

. *2006 Verizon New Jersey was the first company to file application for a video franchise under New Jersey's new centralized video franchise law. Previously,

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

providers had to file with every municipality in which they wished to provide service individually, thus making Verizon New Jersey the state's first statewide competitive "cable company".Verizon to File First Application Under New Jersey's New Pro-Consumer Video Franchise Law
/ref>

References

{{Bell System Telecommunications companies of the United States Communications in New Jersey Verizon Communications American companies established in 2000 Telecommunications companies established in 2000 2000 establishments in New Jersey Bell System

Innovations and firsts

See also

References