Submitted by Ben Herrick
On November 14, the Tucker County Planning Commission hosted representatives from Frontier Communications to discuss ways to improve the quality and reliability of the telephone service in Tucker County. The Frontier Communications Representatives consisted of Kathy Cosco, Government and External Affairs; Reta Griffith, General Manager – Elkins Local Area Market; and Eric Feaster, Field Supervisor, Davis WV.
Frontier Communications began business in West Virginia in 2009 when Frontier signed an agreement with Verizon to acquire landline telephone services. At that time, Frontier acquired the Verizon assets from the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia and became the local incumbent telephone company for all but five exchanges in the State.
Frontier’s reputation as the company was soon damaged when they worked to provide DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) internet service. The frustration with DSL culminated in a class action lawsuit that was filed in 2014 by West Virginia Frontier customers. The suit ended in December 10, 2015 when the West Virginia State Attorney General (Patrick Morrisey) announced a $160 million consumer-protection settlement that Frontier paid with no admission of wrongdoing.
At the November 14 Planning Commission meeting, the subject of discussion was not DSL but instead service problems involving the standard voice telephone. In the meeting, Frontier acknowledged that there had been problems with their service. Frontier described failures in the passing messages from their call center in Connecticut to the local field representatives that resulted in delays and lack of notifications to customers.
As a remedy, Frontier advised that if customers encounter a telephone disruption they should report the problem to the Frontier Communications call center listed in the telephone directory (telephone number 800-921-8104). When a call is received at the call center, a trouble ticket is generated. That trouble ticket is used to describe and track the outage. If additional follow-up is needed, the customer’s best recourse is to contact either Reta Griffith at 304- 799-3994 (cell 304- 400-9174) or Eric Feaster at 304- 703-9082, provide the trouble ticket number, and describe the problem. The above-named Frontier representatives stated that they live locally, appreciate the need for telephone restoration, and can expedite the requirement to restore service.
In the past, Frontier Communications had been suffering from a lack of resources necessary to effect telephone repairs in a timely manner. However, steps have been taken to address this resource deficiency. With additional telephone technicians being made available in time of need, the time required to effect telephone repairs should decrease.
Please be aware that as the number of landline telephone users in metropolitan areas continues to decline, revenues from these users will also decrease. This loss of revenue may affect the availability of funds needed to repair the telephone lines in rural areas. For those residents who depend on landline telephones, the continuation of reliable service will become more and more problematic. In response, the Tucker County Planning Commission will continue to work to improve overall communications connectivity in Tucker County. The commission will look to encourage the development of telephone alternatives such as fiber optics, VoIP, or cellular services.
Frontier Communications reports that they remain committed to providing telephone service in Tucker County. Frontier says that although no telephone upgrades are planned for the near future, they will provide regular maintenance and attempt to shorten repair times. Frontier is aware of the limited nature of local cellular telephone service and the need for Tucker County residents to have reliable landline telephones. By having a field representative located in Davis, along with the ability to bring in extra resources when needed, Frontier believes the residents of Tucker County will see an improvement in telephone service response times.
