Verizon was formed in 2000 by the merger of Bell Atlantic (including
> NYENX) and GTE (including Contel; at least what GTE and later VZ have
> retained of old GTE and old Contel). The "Bell" logo has been retained
> by VZ in BA (and NYNEX) territories, but it has also been introduced
> into VZ-held legacy GTE (and Contel) territories when it comes to
> basic local telephone services, such as repair trucks, directories,
> monthly bills, and even telco-owned payphones. Note that VZ Wireless
> does NOT use the "Bell" logo, nor various aspects of VZ that are not
> "basic local landline telephone functions".
If you're a fan of West Wing you might have notice a goof in the episode or two where they did a flash back to when Bartlet first ran for President. Josh made a phone call from a phone booth with very prominent Verizon signage. Verizon didn't exist at the time of the call.