Neb. Telcos Have Aging Networks, Dysfunctional Support, PSC Told
The Nebraska Public Service Commission heard telecom complaints Wednesday about network reach, reliability and customer service at Windstream, Frontier Communications and Lumen’s CenturyLink. Commissioners and staff heard customers’ negative experiences -- and grilled companies -- at the hearing, which was for the PSC’s telephone service-quality investigation in docket C-5303/PI-240.
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Nearly 20 landline outages and slow internet plagued CenturyLink customer Rebecca Fahrlander over the past eight months, she said. CenturyLink scheduled about 15 technician appointments that required Fahrlander to stay home all day, said the customer from Bellevue, Nebraska. No technician showed up for three of the appointments, she said. Some CenturyLink employees blamed the problems on old copper infrastructure, said Fahrlander: They said fiber was coming soon but couldn’t say when; one technician even suggested switching service to cable company Cox. Blaming old infrastructure isn’t satisfactory, she said.
A Frontier customer reported not having service for 11 months. Bryce Gehring said Frontier suggested putting his service on a vacation hold to avoid charges. Gehring said he made many calls to customer service: “You just go round and round to different departments.” Similarly, CenturyLink customer Ken Dudek said his experience calling customer service involved several transfers back and forth between that carrier’s landline and internet departments.
"We try to resolve issues as quickly as we can,” with two days the goal, said CenturyLink Public Policy Director Al Lubeck. Time to restore service increased over the summer, he acknowledged. The number of Nebraska technicians has dropped, he said, but the reduction happened in parallel with a 10% customer drop. The company recently moved some technicians into Omaha from out of state, he said. Customers waiting 30 minutes to an hour on the phone with customer service seems long, Lubeck agreed.
Long waits on customer service lines is “such a common story,” but “just because it’s common doesn’t mean it should be,” Commissioner Mary Ridder (R) said to Lubeck. “It means it needs to be addressed and solved.” Commissioner Tim Schram (R) asked how CenturyLink decides when upgrades happen, since the telco and other price-cap regulated carriers have facilities that are "beyond their physical limits.” The company is replacing copper with fiber in Omaha but not many outside areas yet, said Lubeck.
Economics, including potential revenue gains and cost savings, drive decisions to replace copper with fiber, Frontier Manager-Government Affairs Scott Bohler told Schram. Frontier usually made repairs within 24 hours in 2021 and 2022, Bohler said. It’s true that finding qualified technicians is difficult these days, but Frontier isn’t currently searching in Nebraska, he said. Bohler agreed with CenturyLink's Lubeck that a shrinking number of access lines means the workload is dropping. Ridder pushed back, asking if the remaining landlines might be generating larger numbers of complaints.
Nebraska Sen. Bruce Bostelman (R) complained that Windstream has refused to bring internet service to his house since it was built in 2002 because it says he lives too far from a node. FCC Form 477 shows Bostelman’s census block as served, he noted. Commissioner Rod Johnson (R) noted Windstream often tells the PSC it will deploy fixed wireless in rural areas. Bostelman said wireless “just doesn’t work” where he lives and his only option is WildBlue satellite service with 3 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds. Commissioner Crystal Rhoades (D) said, “It's tragic, frankly, that you don't have service.”
Windstream “pivoted” to fiber from fixed wireless, noted Vice President-State Government Affairs Logan Shine. The official deferred answering several other commissioner questions, saying he came to the hearing to listen and will follow up on any concerns raised.