AT&T Files Complaint with FCC about Verizon's Tactics.

Byline: Jeff May

Jul. 11--AT&T Corp. yesterday accused Verizon Communications of improperly steering customers to its new long-distance plans in New York and asked federal regulators to restrict the local phone giant's ability to pitch the service.

Customers who call Verizon, formed last month by the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp., to establish local phone service or add an extra line are routinely given incomplete information about their long-distance options, AT&T said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. In almost half of all cases, callers are never told about any plans other than Verizon, a survey commissioned by AT&T …