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Frontier Customers in Exeter, Calif. Lose Phone Service for a Week, Some Banks Close

Phillip Dampier August 8, 2019 Consumer News, Frontier, Public Policy & Gov't, Rural Broadband No Comments

Frontier Communications customers in Exeter, Calif. experienced intermittent phone and internet service last week after the phone company’s network deteriorated to the point of failure on Friday, Aug. 2, when the entire Exeter telephone exchange was apparently affected.

For most of last week, customers reported periodic outages and callers could not reach numbers in the 592 exchange. Some businesses reported calls were met with recordings that their numbers were permanently disconnected.

Frontier has said little about the outage, impacting the Tulare County community of 10,000, located north of Bakersfield. But area customers and businesses had a lot to say.

The local Bank of America branch closed for several days, unable to process banking or ATM transactions because of the outage. That forced residents to drive to Visalia or Lindsay to find ATMs that did not display “Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are temporarily closed. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

The Frontier outage hit local businesses especially hard, because callers were given the impression area businesses had permanently closed. Those still open often could not process credit card transactions, turning away paying customers.

Exeter, Calif.

Paula Marvin, owner of Rosemary and Thyme in Exeter, told the Sun-Gazette the interruption affected her business.

“I remember being able to call out at around 10 a.m. but not in the afternoon,” Marvin said. “And even then I’m not sure who has what service.”

Callers in the 592 exchange could occasionally place calls to other Frontier customers in the same exchange, but not to other exchanges or non-Frontier customers. Incoming calls were usually not completed.

“When you call out, it gives you a busy signal, and when people call in it says the number has been disconnected or is no longer in service,” Marvin said.

Sherri Forcum, owner of Whistle Stop Diner, told the newspaper she lost about half of her business for the day on Aug. 2 because she was unable to process credit cards for walk-in customers and couldn’t receive phone calls for takeout orders. Callers were told the number was permanently disconnected. Some loyal customers drove to the diner to discover it was still open for business, and that was Forcum’s first realization the phone line was not working properly. Forcum intends to switch to Charter Spectrum phone service.

Customers calling Frontier to complain about the outage were initially told there was no outage and no problem with their phone service. The Exeter Chamber of Commerce begged to differ, telling the newspaper it was taking multiple complaints from Exeter businesses, particularly last Friday. Chamber representative Sarah Tyler experienced the outage herself.

“At the Mural Gallery, we’re able to pick up and get a dial tone but the moment you called it told you the number was disconnected,” Tyler said. “A lot of businesses and a lot of residents were really frustrated.”

The outage mysteriously ended on Monday. The newspaper could not get Frontier to comment on the outage at press time.

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