"Less than one percent" of Verizon customers who were switched over to Frontier Communications suffered service outages after the transition, according to Frontier.
But with more than 3 million customers being forced to switch providers, that could put the total number of customers who suffered outages at nearly 30,000. What isn't clear is how many people still lack service.
Frontier closed its acquisition of Verizon's FiOS and DSL operations in Florida, California, and Texas on April 1. "Due to the size and complexity of the conversion of these customers to our systems, Frontier started planning over a year ago, with the goal of ensuring a conversion as seamless and straight-forward as possible," Frontier said in a statement sent to Ars. "We hired over 8,000 contractors to assist with the process. Overall, less than one percent of the over 3,000,000 customers transitioned to Frontier experienced a service disruption as a result of this conversion, and there was no disruption of traditional voice service or of the 911 network."
The number of customers who lost service could actually be more than 30,000, depending on how close the outage number is to 1 percent. The Verizon transfer gave Frontier another 3.3 million phone customers, 2.1 million Internet customers, and 1.2 million TV customers. We're doing a little guesswork here, but whether the number is a little above or below 30,000, that's a lot of customers who lost service.
Whatever the exact numbers are, Frontier said it is "not satisfied with that result." Customers and government officials aren't satisfied, either. California legislative committee is planning a hearing on the topic on Wednesday next week, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi demanded a meeting with Frontier officials.
Despite Frontier's statement that no "traditional voice service" went out, Bondi said that "business and residential customers have complained of going days or weeks without any Internet or phone service." With no phone service, customers lost access to 911, Bondi said. The discrepancy between the Frontier and Florida statements may be due to the former Verizon network offering two kinds of phone calling: traditional landline service and the newer FiOS Digital Voice that uses VoIP technology.
Bondi had her meeting with Frontier officials on Wednesday. Frontier agreed to prioritize complaints from seniors and people with serious medical problems and has set up a local customer service number and a "'SWAT Team' to coordinate the rapid response to customer escalations and service outages," Bondi said. Frontier also agreed to give credits to all customers who reported service outages.
“After a lengthy, productive meeting with Frontier executives, I am cautiously optimistic that Frontier disruptions in services will be quickly resolved,” Bondi said in a press release. "However, my office will continue to work with the company on each consumer complaint until they are all appropriately addressed.”
Bondi's office had received 721 complaints about Frontier as of yesterday morning and is forwarding each one to the company.
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