Nearly eighty local residents attended a meeting last Thursday at the Braxton County Senior Center to hear concerns regarding poor landline telephone service through Frontier Communications. The meeting, hosted by the Braxton County Commission, included commission members, representatives of the West Virginia Public Service Commission and Frontier Communications and the public.
Frontier was represented by John Tipton, Director of Operations and Local Area Manage Aaron Crowder. Terri Blake and Cindy Delaney represented the Public Service Commission.
Commission President Lisa Godwin facilitated the meeting which allowed seventy-eight residents to voice their concerns.
One of the major topics concerns dealt with customers not being able to use their phone service during power outages. Frontier representatives identified the problem as being deficient backup batteries that power vital equipment during outages. They assured those in attendance that those problems would be immediately addressed. In fact, some batteries were located and in route to strategic locations before the meeting ended, according to the company representative.
Company officials stated that each person who spoke would be personally contacted with information pertaining to their situation as a follow-up.
Commission President Lisa Godwin summed up the meeting saying it was productive. “I believe Frontier and the PSC have a better understanding of what the problems in our area are. They have stated that corrective action will be taken. Overall, I think the meeting was very productive.”
The Commission will summarize the oral testimony given at Thursday’s meeting and reduce it to written form along with approximately two dozen complaints that came to the Commission office by phone and forward the documents to both agencies this week.
