34 senators from states with rural telephone customers urged FCC...
34 senators from states with rural telephone customers urged FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in a letter sent Monday to investigate telephone service providers who they said are failing to properly complete calls to customers in rural areas. Rural consumers are…
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experiencing calls that “fail to complete, are delayed, have poor voice quality, lack correct caller ID information, or are never connected,” the letter said. Such call connection problems are “continuing to occur at an alarming rate,” the senators said, urging the FCC to take action against any parties that violate the FCC’s 2012 Declaratory Ruling on Rural Call Completion Issues. The senators also urged the commission to determine whether originating providers are employing least-cost routing services, which the letter said could be a contributing factor to call connection problems. The letter was signed by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.; Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; John Thune, R-S.D.; Al Franken, D-Minn.; Pat Leahy, D-Vt.; Bernard Sanders, I-Vt.; Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; Ben Nelson, D-Neb.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Michael Enzi, R-Wyo.; Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; James Inhofe, R-Okla.; John Hoeven, R-N.D.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Herb Kohl, D-Wis.; Mark Kirk, R-Ill.; Mike Johanns, R-Neb.; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; John Boozman, R-Ark.; Carl Levin, D-Mich.; Mark Udall, D-Colo.; Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.; Mark Pryor, D-Ark.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. It’s “unacceptable” that households and small businesses are not receiving calls, said OPASTCO Vice President-Legislative Policy Randy Tyree, in a separate news release. Western Telecommunications Alliance Executive Vice President Kelly Worthington urged the FCC to “crack down immediately” on providers who aren’t completing calls, in another news release. “This is a public safety issue, a consumer issue, a business issue and a health care issue,” she said. The FCC had no comment.