- QLT Consumer Lease Services
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Consumer Phone Services LLC, doing business as QLT Consumer Lease Services, formerly AT&T Consumer Lease Services, has New Jersey-based operations managed by Alcatel-Lucent, formerly Lucent Technologies. The AT&T name was used under license since Lucent was spun off from AT&T on September 30, 1996.
Consumer Phone Services bought Lucent's telephone leasing business in 2000, when Lucent reorganized its equipment businesses.
CPS leases out the following models made by Western Electric:
- Traditional 500/554 Rotary Phone
- Traditional 2500/2554 Touch-Tone Telephone
- Trimline 220/222 Rotary phone
CPS also leases the following models released post-breakup, manufactured by AT&T Technologies, Lucent Technologies, or Advanced American Telephones:
- Desk Model/Wall Model
- Signature Trimline
- Signature Princess
Consumer Phone Services also leases cordless phones & telephone accessories.
Customers of Consumer Phone Services number less than a million. A majority of the customers are elderly who have found convenience in simply leasing the same telephone[1]. Most customers are also leftovers from before the 1984 breakup of AT&T, who did not opt to purchase their telephones before the buyout option expired in 1987. Such customers have paid for their telephones 10 times over or more prompting critics to call the service overpriced. But customers do retain the benefit of free replacement if the phone ever breaks and free accessories such as long cords.
Name Change
On October 1st, 2008, AT&T Consumer Lease Services changed its name to QLT Consumer Lease Services.
References
External links
Spinoffs of American Telephone & Telegraph Company 1956: Bell Canada • Northern Electric
1984 divestiture: Ameritech • Bell Atlantic • Bell Communications Research • BellSouth • NYNEX • Pacific Telesis • Southwestern Bell • U S WEST
1996: Lucent Technologies • NCR
1997: AT&T Submarine System, sold to Tyco International
2001: AT&T Wireless Services
2003: AT&T Broadband
Second-Generation SpinoffsLucent Technologies: Advanced American Telephones (2000) • Avaya (2000) • QLT Consumer Lease Services (2000) • Agere Systems (2002)
MediaOne Group (f/k/a original U S WEST): U S WEST (1998)
Pacific Telesis: AirTouch (1994)
Regional Bell Operating Companies: Telcordia Technologies (1997)
SBC Communications: DonTech (2004)
Verizon Communications: Hawaiian Telcom (2005) • Idearc (2006) • Northern New England Spinco (2008) • Frontier Communications ILEC Holdings (2010)
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