Unfortunately, that Verizon stuff is preinstalled bloatware. You can't remove it unless you root the phone. You could try disabling the Verizon apps in the App Manager, but I seem to recall that many Verizon bloatware apps can't even be disabled.
Not sure about the phone automatically adding the 617 area code. Go to the Phone app, tap More>Settings>Call Settings, and see if there's an option there to automatically add a prefix or area code.