[August 11, 2011] Regulation commission questions AT&T

FARMINGTON, Aug 11, 2011 (The Daily Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- AT&T provides wireless service across the nation, which has local officials wondering why the company can't get it right in San Juan County.







Representatives from AT&T met with officials and members of the public Wednesday to answer questions about the company's recent acquisition of the wireless provider Alltel.



The meeting quickly had AT&T on the defensive as officials from San Juan County, the city of Farmington and the Navajo Nation asked pointed questions about a plague of service problems affecting the area since the switch last spring.





The issues in question aren't just a dropped call when trying to find out what to buy for dinner. According to local officials, the problems have far more serious repercussions.



"We have some serious concerns," City Manager Rob Mayes said. "The issue really boils down to coverage. With the switch from Alltel, the reality of our experience is that we feel like we have regressed a decade." The city has 350 phones that use AT&T service, and, according to Mayes, since switching from Alltel, problems with coverage and dropped calls have become rampant.



"It gets worse the more you move out into the city," Mayes said. "This is not an overreaction. It affects public safety, economic development and our daily operations. We have had a serious loss of the connectivity we had with Alltel." Mayes was not alone. Officials from the county and the Navajo Nation expressed similar sentiments, some with a little more force.



"When we call 911 we often get routed someplace far away, someplace not local," said Counselor Chapter President Samuel Sage. "Then there is the fact that costs are escalating. Our elderly are starting to receive much higher bills, so their phones get disconnected." Leighton Carroll, AT&T's assistant vice president for consumer sales and service, jumped on the 911 issue immediately, promising to take care of it as soon as possible. When it came to the pricing structures, Carroll was a little more cagey.



"The pricing issue is an area we need to look into," he said.



The beleaguered executive's problems were just beginning, however.



County General Services and Community Development Administrator Larry Hathaway bluntly told the phone company representatives that the issues needed to be fixed as soon as possible.



"We have 300 users in our group," Hathaway said. "And the transition was monumental, it wasn't seamless. Unlike with Alltel, we are having tons of dropped calls and coverage problems; and when you consider that we have sheriff and fire personnel spread across the county, that's a big problem. I'm not sure if this is coverage or tasking, but it needs to be fixed." Emergency communications isn't the only issue Hathaway has with AT&T's service.



"In general we've had struggles with rate plans and incorrect billing," he said. "If one of these iPhones breaks, we have to package it and send it to Albuquerque." San Juan County Interim CEO Kim Carpenter agreed.



"Since we made this transition, I've become increasingly concerned," he said. "They said the IPhone would be a great platform, but when one breaks we have to take it 180 miles to get it fixed. We were never told this before we took control of these phones. I'm in charge of an entire county. I have to deal with elections, Home Land Security and the Sheriff's Department. If we're without our phones, it's a big deal." Navajo Nation officials had the same complaint.



"An issue I'm worried about is when a phone is broken, it can't just be taken back to the store," said Nageezi Chapter Secretary Jessica Valdez. "It has to be mailed with a money order, and a lot of our elders don't know how to get a money order, let alone have a way to get to the store." Carroll did his best to reassure audience members that the phone company is doing everything it could to address the list of complaints.



"Fixing these issues is Job One, it's a priority for us," Carroll said. "This area is very important for AT&T. We have an ongoing investment. We are adding capacity, adding cell phone towers, increasing our footprint. The investment isn't small. We have invested $100 million in New Mexico. AT&T cares about its customers." Hathaway wasn't buying it.



"I wear two hats for the county," he said. "I am in charge of issuing the building permits for San Juan County. They are issued out of my office. We have not seen any activity from AT&T at all, but we have seen activity from your competition. You tell us that activity is going to happen by the end of the year, but we aren't seeing those permits coming through our office." Brandon Stolle, AT&T's director of sales operations, reassured officials that towers are being built.



"We have five towers that are scheduled to come on-line in this area this year," Stolle said.



He did not have data about whether the towers would fix service problems.



"Adding towers isn't the only problem," Mayes said. "We just need our phones to work. Job one is fixing this." Kurt Madar: kmadar@daily-times.com To see more of The Daily Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.daily-times.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Daily Times, Farmington, N.M. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com.

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