Letter from Charlie Green
Telecommunications – March 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ed (or Martha):
The article in the February issue about the San Luis Valley getting DSL prompted this diatribe. Unlike Salida and environs, the San Luisians and I have the same telephone provider: CenturyTel (Company motto: You’ll get your service when we get the subsidy check).
Unlike them, we barely have basic phone service. On an average day, we get a line to the rest of the world once every four tries. On a bad day, once an hour. The other attempts are met with a recording telling us, “We’re sorry but all circuits are busy. Please try your call later.” (Sincerely delivered; not even a Lily Tomlin voice! Or a snort.)
I haven’t had to try to reach 911 during these times but I fear our emergency calls will be unable to connect as well. We did have a crisis with our horse and were unable to get a line out for hours. Finally my wife drove to town (Cañon City) to get medication from the vet. In any case, everyone up here has well-used redial buttons on their phones.
When I saw the contractor installing a fiber optic line from the intersection of Colorado Highway 69 and Fremont County Road 1A to the intersection of CO 69 and Fremont 28, I had hopes this would help our dilemma. I know it made a difference when CenTel connected Westcliffe to the outside world via fiber optics. (Fremont 28 is the “back road” from our Deer Mountain neighborhood.) But, after talking to the Cotopaxi Store owner, I realized this is more widespread than our neighborhood. She, like us, doesn’t even try to make calls after 9 a.m. on weekdays.
We called the CenturyTel repair service and the dispatcher — in some unknown state (location, not mental condition) — told me that we were the first complaint from prefix 942. Wow, what an easily satisfied clientele in Howard, Cotopaxi, and Texas Creek! Of thousands of subscribers, only I was a malcontent! I felt so guilty about expecting the service for which I pay monthly. He referred me to the local repair guy who called the next day and told my wife that 1) it was the customers’ own fault for surfing the web, 2) the fiber optic cable being connected would not be completed until next spring because the ground was too frozen, and 3) that may not help either.
So I went on the internet (after several attempts to get a phone connection) and looked up the Colorado Public Utilities Commission web site. They encouraged me to send my complaint in by e-mail which I did. It was sent on November 26, 2001. It read a lot like this letter (but with less editorializing).
I never got a reply. So, after a couple of months, I made a hard copy of the e-mail with a letterhead and some [mildly] sarcastic introductory remarks, and snail mailed it to the PUC. This was sent on January 16, 2002. My first reply from the PUC came on Friday, February 1, telling me they had received my letter and an April Woods of the external affairs division would be handling the problem. (I wonder if May Flowers is assisting? I’m sorry, that was uncalled for but inevitable! I’m sure she has heard all the cheap shot jokes about her name already!)
Then I got Ms. Woods’ letter on February 4, dated January 31. Her letter was very nice and informative. Also enclosed were the letter from Larry Bain of CenturyTel Plant Facilities (A startling concept; I had always thought of phone service as a system, not a plant. A vine, maybe?) and the e-mail from a Toni Conway of CenturyTel.
Larry’s letter was amazingly informative: We are aware of this difficulty, and apologize for any inconvenience. We are seriously addressing this situation and have two major projects scheduled for completion the fourth quarter of 2002 to address this situation.
Fortunately, Ms. Woods was more forthcoming in her letter and attached e-mail. She informed me that the internet traffic was a big factor in the system loading, increasing the average call length. And that 911 was a separate “trunk system”; if you could get a dial tone, you could reach 911 (She spelled it 9-1-1; don’t want anyone looking for that 11 button!).
She also added that the PUC had no authority to tell utilities “where to spend construction funds” per the Colorado Supreme Court. She — not planning to give me an exhaustive lesson in PUC/utility symbiosis — did not tell me what authority the PUC did have in overseeing utilities.
The real meat of the package was the terse but information laden e-mail from Toni C. which I quote in its entirety with original capitalization:
Customer Name: Charlie Green
What is the Problem: Constant busy circuits calling out of Howard
[Author’s note: the USPS says we are in Cotopaxi; CenturyTel claims we are part of Howard; the closest place marker on US 50 is Texas Creek. A neighborhood without an identity.]
If Corrected How and When: Has not been corrected as this requires a 2002 Capital Fiber Build-Out
If not Corrected Why and When will it be: Two work orders have been written for the 2002 capital project totaling $781,436 for fiber build-out from Westcliffe exchange to CenturyTel’s Howard exchange which is due to start construction the 2nd quarter of 2002. The work order numbers are XXXXXXX and XXXXXXX. [Numbers suppressed by the writer]
Customer Contact by whom, when, what were the results: Larry Bain wrote the letter to customer.
[Author’s note: Westcliffe is now a long distance call. Will it become local after these projects?]
The unreported result of all this was this letter to the editor of Colorado Central.
For such a small neighborhood, we do lead interesting lives! I was amazed at the response of the Colorado PUC when they finally got my message. They even gave me a contact ID number; now I am not just a name anymore!
In summary, if you have a utility problem, I (and the PUC) recommend contacting the service provider first. Then (my recommendation) take notes while they blow smoke at you (get a name(s) if you can).
After this effort has reached “fruition”, WRITE to the PUC with the details of your problem and your attempts at solution. I honestly think they do the best they can in the face of the pro-business environment they must live in.
Still waitin’ for Christo in Texas Creek,
Charlie Green