New Service

Phoneless in Baltimore? Roommates Shaun Flynn and Matthew Welch have been these past three weeks, and it has made life, well, interesting. They are among the thousands of Maryland residents whose requests for phone service got caught in the logjam caused by the 18-day strike by the Communications Workers of America against Verizon Communications Inc. The CWA and Verizon ended the strike Aug. 23 - more than three weeks ago. But the telephone giant, the...

Memories of a bygone era flashed back to David Hazman when he pulled next to a self-service pump at a Mobil station and was greeted by an attendant.The attendant offered to wash the motorist's windshield and check his oil -- a reminder of the days before self-service when customers were treated like royalty and gas prices were half the current rate.Hazman, 59, of Pikesville, was among the area's first gas buyers to experience Mobil's "friendly-serve" program, the oil company's effort to win customers by adding a personal touch in an increasingly automated world.

The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. of Maryland is offering a new service that will allow customers to automatically connect a call after getting the number from directory assistance. The cost is 30 cents, besides possible fees for directory assistance.Residential users are allowed 12 free directory calls a month. After that amount, the charge is 25 cents a call. For disabled customers who can't use a directory, there is no fee if they notify C&P of their disability.The new service, called Connect ReQuest, became available to about 30,000 Baltimore downtown customers through 22 telephone exchanges yesterday.

CHICAGO -- A new service providing virtually up-to-the-minute information on flight arrivals and departures at O'Hare International Airport has been launched by Official Airline Guides in a venture that officials plan to expand nationwide.Travelers who dial (900) 786-8686 and then the appropriate flight number get current departure and arrival times and gate information. The charge is 75 cents a minute, and company officials said information is provided quickly under its computerized "FlightCall" program.

Passengers on international flights at 30,000 feet may soon have a way to stay tuned to news on earth while waiting out those long-haul junkets across the ocean.A new satellite-based information service being developed by Comsat Aeronautical Services and Sony Trans Com, a subsidiary of Sony U.S.A., will offer international passengers a way to keep up with breaking news, developments in the world's financial markets and updates on everything from sports scores to weather, said Ken Lew, Sony's program manager, based in Irvine, Calif.

Southwest Airlines, the carrier largely credited with making Baltimore-Washington International Airport one of the fastest-growing airports in the country, announced yesterday that it will expand for the fourth time in less than a year, adding service to Albany, N.Y. The Dallas-based airline did not announce whether the new service will include flights between Albany and BWI, saying more detailed information will be released this month. But since coming to BWI in 1993, Southwest Airlines has quickly built the airport into its primary East Coast hub. And each time the airline has added a new East Coast city to its schedule, there usually have been new flights to and from Baltimore.

Usually we encourage homeowners to tackle pretty much anything themselves, whether it's sanding floors or repairing damaged plaster or trying to make a basement waterproof. But there are some things you just can't (or shouldn't) do yourself.Case in point: We got a letter from a reader in Baltimore County who wrote, "I have a braided electrical line attached to my house, coming out of an insulator and going around the side and down into the electrical meter. Someone painted it (it's about an inch wide and 1/2 -inch thick)

More than 35,000 customer service and technical field workers in Maryland and other states remained on strike yesterday against Verizon Communications Inc. as negotiators in Washington continued to work out details of a new contract Representatives for the company and the union representing striking workers reported progress in negotiations for a new contract. "It seems to be moving closer together," said Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of America. "We're in intense discussions and negotiations to get this resolved."

Because of an editing error, an article in yesterday's Busines section incorrectly said that calls to the 411 directory service from pay phones cost 25 cents. In fact, the calls are free.The Sun regrets the errors.C&P Telephone Co. introduced to Baltimore yesterday a new service that lets callers take a shortcut from the 411 directory to ,, the place you wanted to call in the first place.There's just one catch: Taking advantage of that convenience will push up the cost of a local call by 30 cents -- in most cases more than the call itself.

Free circulator bus service will be extended to Fort McHenry in Locust Point, city officials said Monday. Called the Banner Route, the new service will provide a free bus link to the historic site beginning in June, in time for bicentennial celebrations of the War of 1812. U.S. Rep. John P. Sarbanes joined Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and his father, former Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, in announcing the Charm City Circulator service to Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine on Fort Avenue.