AT&T makes White Pages special order

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COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Columbus, Ohio, is the latest city to become part of a national trend, the end to the automatic delivery of telephone directories.

AT&T began delivering the Real Yellow Pages in the region Tuesday, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Along with the books, customers got fliers telling them how to order the Real White Pages.

In February, the Public Utilities Commission granted AT&T's request to allow it to stop delivering a listing of residential numbers.

"Consumers use other resources to get residential numbers, such as

storing contact numbers in their cell phones, creating their own personal directories or from community bulletins," Chris Bauer, a company spokesman, said. "And many people are now using their cell phones as their sole phone line, and cell phones aren't listed in the residential directory."

Bauer said AT&T has added workers at its call center for Ohio after so many people in the Cleveland region called last month to request white pages that the center was overwhelmed. He said AT&T has been rolling out the new system across the country city by city.