After Hurricane Wilma, as hundreds of thousands of customers across southern Florida remain without telephone service, BellSouth announced Monday it would assist affected customers with free services such as voicemail and inside line repair.

While no central offices failed completely in Florida, as of 9 a.m. Monday, twelve offices remain on generator power due to lack of commercial power, and 394 neighborhood digital loop carriers remain out of service across the region.

While BellSouth announced in a press release Monday that 586,000 customer lines were out of service, internal documents obtained by Phone Watch put the number of lines at 800,000.

“Fluctuations in the reported numbers can be expected as customers report service interruptions and as telephone lines are taken down for repairs or otherwise impacted during the course of restoration work,” BellSouth said in the press release.

BellSouth also asked that “customers be cautious of pedestals housing underground telephone cables and call +1-800-432-4770 to locate cables before digging on their property.”

“The extent of physical damage encountered by BellSouth teams will determine the actual time it will take to restore service. As a result, restoration time varies by customer.”

BellSouth asked that all impacted customers report the trouble to ensure that they receive proper service credits. Customers can report the trouble online, or by contacting +1-877-737-2478 (residence) or +1-866-620-6900 (business). TDD/TTY users can call +1-888-341-2355. BellSouth warned that call volumes were much higher than normal and urged customers to report online if possible.

Customers who are out of service due to Hurricane Wilma can receive one month free of the following services: MemoryCall (Voicemail) service, Remote Access to Call Forwarding, Call Forwarding Don’t Answer, and Call Forwarding Busy Line. FastAccess DSL customers can receive free backup dial service.

In addition, BellSouth will restore one inside telephone jack for all customers, and up to five inside telephone jacks for customers who subscribe to BellSouth’s inside wire maintenance plan. The plan does not normally cover hurricane damage.

BellSouth also announced that a planned Nov. 5 rate increase in Florida would be delayed for two weeks. The reduced in-state toll rates will still go into effect Tuesday, however.

BellSouth asks that people who wish to sign up for these features contact +1-888-757-6500 (residence) or +1-866-620-6000 (business). Contact repair instead to set an appointment for inside wire and jack repair.