A key state official is challenging claims by Consolidated Communications over how many customers lost internet service this past weekend.
Company officials said the outages were limited to 200 customers, but Clay Purvis, the director of the Telecommunications and Connectivity Division of the Vermont Department of Public Service, said based on calls, emails and reports to his office that estimate appears to be low.
Service went down from Saturday through Monday evening, according to company spokesperson Shannon Sullivan, who said those affected represent about 1 percent of the company’s customer base in Vermont.
“To clarify, this was not a statewide nor widespread outage; however, we regret the disruption our customers experienced,” Sullivan said. A recorded message on the company’s voicemail that “overstated the outage” was changed, according to Sullivan.
Purvis said it was not the first time Consolidate Communications had a similar problem and that it seemed “more pervasive” than the company maintained.
“The 200 hundred seems small in comparison to the amount of noise we were hearing about the internet being down,” Purvis said. “In fact, I was in line at the store yesterday and someone in front of me was complaining about their internet being down. So it just seemed more pervasive than simply 200 customers, nevertheless 200 customers is a lot of customers.”
In response, Sullivan said she could “assure you” the outage only impacted around 200 Vermonters.
The state has no regulatory power over internet service providers. A state senator said regulators are “toothless” and the state needs more authority over internet service providers.
Purvis said the department received “many” complaints about the outage through multiple departments and staff members, which indicated to him that the outage was “fairly widespread.”
Network outages that affect customers statewide happen infrequently, Purvis said. “But I would say Consolidated experiences them more than others. And I have to say that’s based on the anecdotal evidence.”
Purvis said the state expects telephone companies to get service back up in 24 hours and that the time it took for Consolidated to restore service was “quite excessive.”
The Better Business Bureau has issued an advisory saying customers should “use caution” when considering Consolidated services.
Impacted residents like Windsor County resident Mark Horowitz were told the outage was “statewide” and was the result of a “cascade of failures,” he said.
However, Sullivan said the term “statewide” overstated the issue, but the outage impacted customers in “various” locations around the state.
“I understand the confusion that may have occurred related to the recorded message over the weekend which overstated the outage,” Sullivan said. “We corrected the message yesterday to avoid confusion.”
Sullivan said the outage had to do with an aggregation device—a router. New software had to be created to address the problem, which is why the issue went unresolved for three days.
It was the last straw for Horowitz.
“I asked the Consolidated Communications tech support folks, in North Carolina for the number of the local office for CC. They said no,” Horowitz said. “So I asked for the local Comcast office, I actually have Comcast coming on Thursday to hook me up.”
Purvis said the state’s lack of authority was “frustrating.”
“Yet when there are internet outages like this, people come to us with questions and with concerns about it,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot we can do as far as compelling them to fix the outage because we can’t regulate the service, but they typically don’t tell us.”
Purvis said the state heard about the issue from upset customers who filed reports with his department over the weekend. The state did not hear from the company until Monday.
“The internet is becoming just as important if not more important than telephone service,” he said. “And it’s quite frustrating to not have the same kind of insight that we would be able to get on telephone outages.”
Sullivan, from Consolidated Communications, said the company “communicated with the Vermont DPS throughout the day on Monday.”
Between 80,000 to 100,000 residents have internet service through Consolidated Communications in Vermont. The company has a large customer base in New England, so when outages happen they are often widespread, Purvis said.
This is not the first time, the state and Consolidated Communications have butted heads. According to state data, the Department of Public Service has received numerous complaints over time.
But. when it comes to action over issues like connectivity and overall regulation, the state is helpless, said Sen. Chris Pearson, P/D-Chittenden.
“[Oversight] has come up more around Net Neutrality than connectivity, but they’re different sides of the same coin,” Pearson said. “The state has very limited power. We have oversight on the tower sightings and things like that, but when it comes to net neutrality we have very limited options. In terms of holding internet service providers accountable, we’re basically toothless.”
Pearson and Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, have both worked to push the federal government to give states more oversight over broadband, but the federal government has closed that door, Pearson said.
“The Feds completely overrule our desire to be able to make sure Vermonters have access to these vital services,” he said. “The FCC is not gonna give this up. The history is pretty clear that they’re completely controlled by large telecom, and in no way interested in people like me and others in Montpelier who want to actually hold them accountable, and better democratize access to the internet in every sense.”
Brock said, despite the impact of this recent outage on only “1%” of the company’s customers in Vermont, access to the internet has become an essential part of life, especially during Covid-19.
“The internet has become the lifeblood of communications in Vermont and across the country,” Brock said. “And when somebody cuts off your oxygen, you know, you can’t breathe. And when the internet is down, you can’t breathe, from a communication standpoint, and that’s significant.”
Both Brock and Pearson said they personally have not heard much in the way of complaints from constituents in terms of internet connectivity issues, but both have been heavily involved in conversations around the dropping of E911 calls.
“It has come up around 911 outages. That’s where we think we’ve heard it more recently and those are because more and more people are using voice over IP phone systems, and that’s where there has been trouble with 911 access,” Pearson said. “A lot of that comes through Consolidated.”
In 2018, the Public Utility Commission opened an investigation into Consolidated Communications, after service quality complaints against the company’s phone and internet service mounted.
Six months ago, the Commission ruled that the company either had to pay a $120,000 penalty or make a $150,000 investment in Vermont infrastructure because of service failures.
In 2018, the state legislature passed a measure that forced companies like Consolidated to alert the state to telephone outages, but that same authority doesn’t extend to internet access, Brock said.
“Right now, though the whole issue of internet connectivity is obviously at the top of everyone’s agenda because it’s clear for example in the Covid situation that internet connectivity is absolutely critical,” Brock said. “If we didn’t have the internet you can imagine what the situation would be like for the numerous businesses.”
Aside from state complaints, the Better Business Bureau issued an advisory to customers on its website, warning potential customers of Consolidated Communications of a pattern of complaints against the company.
“Better Business Bureau is advising consumers to use caution when considering doing business with Consolidated Communications,” according to the website’s page on Consolidated Communications. “ BBB has received a pattern of consumer complaints alleging inferior service, billing issues, delays in responding to consumers and poor customer service.”
