Telecommunications giant Verizon has been forced to break some bad news to customers - they cannot simply drop their phone service while keeping Verizon DSL. Instead, subscribers can port their number to another telephone service provider. The clarification comes after news reports said Verizon would begin offering 'naked' DSL.

"Our customer reps are being trained to instruct customers on what to do. Unfortunately it sounds like not all of them are totally up to speed, which sometimes can happen when a system changes," a Verizon spokesperson said.

For now, customers in 13 states and the District of Columbia can request to transfer their phone number to a cell phone, VoIP or cable provider without dropping their DSL service. Previously, Verizon's legacy systems could not handle ending the phone service without also canceling DSL.

"The way a customer would accomplish this is by contacting a new voice provider (again, cable, VoIP or wireless) and request that their Verizon number be ported," the spokesperson explained to BetaNews. "At that point the wheel is in motion, we'd receive the port request from the new provider, we'd port the number and cancel the wireline voice service without the DSL having to be dropped."

While those looking to subscribe only to Verizon DSL while retaining another telephone service may be out of luck, the company said it is working on the issue. "We're developing those capabilities, and once they've been tested and have passed testing we will be able to roll them out as well," Verizon said.