Frontier customers who’ve experienced weeks-long issues with their internet speeds, landline telephone service, as well as the company not showing up for scheduled repairs, could soon be compensated for the inconvenience, according to the Pennsylvania Rocket-Courier.
A proposed settlement agreement was filed with the Public Utility Commission by Pennsylvania’s Office of Consumer Advocate and the Office of Small Business Advocate aims to credit and refund customers for service failures in Bradford, Susquehanna, Sullivan, Wyoming and Tioga counties.
The filing comes after consumers sent letters about Frontier’s spotty service in rural Pennsylvania flooded the offices of several state lawmakers, prompting a formal complaint by the agencies and investigation that kicked off at the beginning of this year. It’s an example of how some rural areas struggle to get adequate service at a time when having reliable internet access is more critical than ever.
The settlement requests deadlines be put in place in which Frontier must reinstate coverage from the time of the initial outage report. The provider will have to adjust the customer’s bill, and provide a credit if the outage lasts more than 10 days. Customers will also get compensation for service impairment like static and cross talk, as well as repeated issues in a 30 day period.
Frontier will also be required to credit emergency first responders like police and fire departments, ambulatory services and 911 call centers if their telephone services are disrupted for more than four hours.
Customers will also be credited if the provider misses a repair appointment without eight hours prior notice or can’t provide installation services within three days of the initial request, according to the proposed settlement.
Frontier Commonwealth customers can provide comments on the settlement through December 11.
The advocate offices filed a formal complaint against the internet service provider earlier this year, but the organizations said the outages and service quality troubles date back to before January.