CPUC to Act on Issues in Frontier/Verizon California, Which Other States Also Monitoring

As part of the rural call completion proceeding, the CPUC is analyzing data about outages from Frontier and other telecom companies, and continues to survey customers about voice outages, Sandoval said. “We will be bringing forth proposals about what we believe we need to do to address what happened.” It appears software was to blame for the Frontier outage, but poor customer service exacerbated problems, she said. The standard for repairs is 24 hours; many faced longer outages, some waiting three weeks, she said. “That is a tremendous concern. … This is something we need to address both in terms of software issues and also in terms of the customer service issues. Telling customers that you’re booking an appointment and not actually booking that appointment is just unacceptable, so that is something we will be proposing to address.” Sandoval said she has been in touch with the FCC Enforcement Bureau: “The FCC will also make a determination about whether there are things that they need to look at.”

Sandoval wants to issue a proposed decision in November on Frontier and other state call completion issues, CPUC Communications Division Acting Director Michael Amato said during a presentation about the Frontier transition. The CPUC included Frontier transition issues in its investigation of call completion and access and had hearings around the state from June through September, he said. The agency also awaits Q3 service quality results, due in mid-November, Amato said. During the switchover in California, VoIP customers lost dial tone, data customers lost broadband service and VOD customers lost full access to movie libraries, Amato said. Customers without service couldn’t call 911, he said. The company told CPUC it resolved data corruption issues, re-created customer records to correct inaccuracies and moved call centers back to American shores, he said.

The state agency received 2,157 complaints about Frontier, as of Oct. 1, a commission spokeswoman told us Thursday. The number of complaints weekly has fallen sharply compared with the start of the transition, but the flow remains steady. “We received 26 the week of Sept. 25; 37 the week of Sept. 18; 30 the week of Sept. 11; 35 the week of Sept. 4; and 63 the week of August 28,” she emailed Thursday. The numbers include billing complaints. The CPUC received 1,564 complaints about service issues since April, according to Amato’s presentation. The commission received 62 service complaints in September, nearly half the number received in August and about 10 percent of the 624 complaints received in May, it said.

“Frontier has worked diligently to resolve transition-related issues and provide all our customers safe and reliable service,” said West Region President Melinda White in a statement. “Our services and operations are in normal business mode. We are now focused on expanding broadband access, enhancing service quality and improving network performance. Specifically, Frontier is making significant broadband infrastructure investments to more than 800,000 California households to improve high-speed Internet access.”

Long Beach lost internet service the same afternoon as the CPUC meeting, California Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell (D) told us. An area outage took his district office there offline, along with neighboring homes and businesses, he emailed. The transition “caused real economic damage and public safety concerns, but to Frontier’s credit, the number of service disruptions reported to our office has significantly decreased and their liaisons have been responsive when constituents call my staff to seek assistance,” he said. “Despite these improvements, however, there is no question periodic problems still remain.” The telco should be held accountable and CPUC should “step up and fulfill its regulatory responsibilities,” O’Donnell said. “I am continuing to closely monitor Frontier’s progress as they work to fix these gaps in service to determine if further action is required.”

“There was a temporary service interruption today and it has been resolved,” a Frontier spokesman said about the reported Long Beach outage. "Frontier serves more than a million customers in California and on any given day, there will be service-related questions somewhere in our service area." An O’Donnell spokesman confirmed service was restored at about 1:15 p.m. PDT, but said it had been out since the office opened at 9 a.m.

“Please help us,” Frontier customer Alan Tolkoff said during public comments at the meeting. He complained about a customer service experience that occurred over the past four days. It took four phone calls to restore one of three Frontier services; then, the company failed to meet a promise to send a repair crew out within six hours, he said.

While Amato said some customers couldn’t access 911 due to the Frontier outages, a telco spokesman said “company records do not indicate an interruption of 911 service in Long Beach in 2016.” A CPUC spokeswoman clarified: “The 911 system wasn't out but customers couldn't call 911. The customers had the problem and couldn't get ahold of 911, specifically those with VoIP service.”

Other States

The other two states that went through bumpy Frontier transitions in April are still monitoring complaints, but said there are fewer, state officials said.

The Texas Public Utility Commission “continues to investigate service issues regarding complaints from Frontier customers,” a PUC spokesman said. “The rate of complaints has dropped in recent weeks compared to the spring and summer peak.”

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Adam Putnam “is dedicated to protecting Florida's consumers and has encouraged anyone who is having service issues with Frontier to contact our department,” a spokesman said. As of last week, the department had received 898 complaints against Frontier since April, and “we’ve helped customers recover $54,394,” he said. The number of customer complaints about Frontier in California, Florida and Texas slowed in June, our previous survey found (see 1607080045).

Also at the CPUC meeting, the commission approved by unanimous consent an order reducing the California Advanced Services Fund surcharge rate for end-user intrastate charges to zero from 0.464 percent (see 1610050024). And it approved by consent an acquisition of Inmate Calling Solutions by TKC Holdings. The buyer “demonstrated sufficient financial strength, and managerial and technical expertise” and the deal serves the public interest, CPUC said in the proposed decision. Also Thursday, the commission dismissed a dispute between AT&T and Webpass at the parties’ request (see 1610030035).

The CPUC is “moving toward” a citation system for pole attachment safety violations by telecom companies, President Michael Picker said. CPUC has a citation system for other utilities and now is working with legal staff on how to extend it to telecom, he said. Picker said to expect a proposal in “the next couple of weeks” so the commission can act on it before year-end. The agency months ago saw violations by Verizon -- now Frontier -- but Picker isn't sure if they have been addressed, he said.