Commission will monitor Frontier for better service

Aug 20, 2019 at 09:42 pm by Observer-Review


Commission will monitor Frontier for better service ADVERTISEMENT

Commission will monitor Frontier for better service

ALBANY--The New York State Public Service Commission has received a report indicating that several Frontier Communications subsidiaries have significant service quality problems, including escalating complaint rates, lengthy repair durations, and localized network reliability issues. As a result, the state will work with Frontier to develop and implement a plan to improve poor localized network reliability conditions for four Frontier subsidiaries.
"Staff has become increasingly concerned with the service quality of Frontier, especially in its Citizens, Frontier Rochester, Frontier New York, and Ausable Valley subsidiaries; complaints include long repair durations and repeated out-of-service conditions, as well as internet access and speed issues," said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes. "Customers need the company to do better, and we will ensure that it does."
In response to the increase in complaints, the state will request Frontier perform a review of its customer trouble reports at a more local geographic level than the central office territory to identify the issues and causes of recurring outages. The commission will also request that Frontier produce monthly data necessary to calculate reliability results for each of the four companies during the most recent three years.
In addition to the production and analysis of more granular data, staff will request that Frontier conduct interviews of its local supervisors and technicians to help identify network plant/facility elements that are substantial contributors to poor network reliability performance. Further, the state will work with Frontier to review the findings of this data analysis and identify the root causes of recurring outages, as well as develop a plan to improve network reliability performance.
If commission action becomes necessary, a recommendation would come at a later date. Frontier serves approximately 221,000 access lines, representing approximately 8 percent of the total access lines in the state. However, like most local telephone companies, Frontier continues to lose traditional access lines, which it attributes to increased competition from VoIP and wireless providers that are now serving Frontier's service territory. During 2018, Frontier lost approximately 30,000 access lines.
Frontier has eight affiliates: Frontier Communications of Rochester, Inc., Citizens Telecommunications of New York, Inc. d/b/a Frontier Communications of New York, Frontier Communications of New York, Inc., Frontier Communications of Ausable Valley, Inc., Frontier Communications of Seneca-Gorham, Inc., Frontier Communications of Sylvan Lake, Inc., Frontier Ogden Telephone Company and Frontier Communications of America.

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