erizon Communications is to announce today that it has created a Silicon Alley advocate's office to address complaints and improve high- speed Internet service for New York technology companies, according to officials involved with an agreement brokered by the city comptroller's office.

The deal seeks to address some of the biggest problems of Internet firms, including delays in service requests and the time it takes to install high-speed connections.

Internet companies in New York have complained that the problems are so serious that they could put Silicon Alley at a disadvantage with other technology corridors across the country.

The advocate's office is to focus on advanced Internet connections for businesses, known as T1 and T3 lines. The agreement does not address D.S.L., or digital subscriber lines, for home users and small businesses, but lays the foundation to resolve similar problems with that service, the officials said.

Internet company executives say that the city comptroller, Alan G. Hevesi, who has worked to cultivate contributors and votes within New York's technology community for his mayoral race this year, helped start negotiations between the two sides early last year.

Officials on both sides said that Verizon had to find ways to address the technology companies' concerns within its own complicated bureaucracy and to avoid violating regulatory laws that prevent special treatment of certain customers.

The solution was to create an advocate's unit within the office of Verizon's group president for New York and Connecticut, Paul Crotty, and to establish an advisory board to monitor the success of the effort and look for new areas for cooperation. The service will include a hot line for all Silicon Alley companies that use Verizon as their retail high-speed Internet provider.