An upset borough president

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is calling on New York City’s telecommunications workers to be pressed into service to cope with the snow emergency created by a weekend blizzard that left more than two feet of snow in parts of New York and New Jersey.

Markowitz told WABC-TV news the mayor’s response to the storm was a “royal screw-up” and he’s angry Manhattan streets are bare while outer boroughs like his contend with roads that have not seen a plow since the storm began.

“Verizon, Cablevision, Time Warner — we need men and women that are healthy and able-bodied,” Markowitz appealed on air.  “Twelve bucks an hour — that’s a lot of money — up to fifteen bucks an hour, to be able to help our Sanitation Department clean out streets.”

“We need every available vehicle you’ve got to help clean this place up,” said Markowitz. “I want as to look as good as Broadway in Manhattan — clean it like Broadway in Manhattan, no more and no less.”

These Verizon trucks won't be of much help, stuck in an intersection in Queens.

Much of the city remains under difficult driving conditions because of abandoned vehicles left in the middle of streets and a lack of plowing.  Disruptions to electric, phone and cable service have been reported because of accidents, damage done by snow removal vehicles, and moisture-related equipment failures.

Pressing companies like Verizon and Time Warner into service may not provide much assistance, considering vehicles belonging to both companies were themselves stuck in many locations around the city.

For residents upstate, already dealing with record-breaking snowfalls in December, the chaos downstate is mystifying.  Residents in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse have another word for the holiday blizzard: Sunday.

The three cities continue their annual competition for the Golden Snowball Award for the upstate community left with the most white stuff:

Golden Snowball Totals for the 2010 – 2011 Snowfall Season
Updated  12/27/2010

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WABC New York City Copes With Storm Aftereffects 12-28-10.flv[/flv]

WABC-TV provides the views of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, as well as a roundup of the lightning-hot anger being felt by an increasing number of New Yorkers stuck at home because of unplowed streets. (17 minutes)

Cofetel is Mexico's equivalent to the American Federal Communications Commission

When Big Telecom companies deliver customers little service, Mexico is one step ahead of the United States in hitting bad actors right where it hurts — in their wallets.

Mexico’s telecommunications watchdog Cofetel announced it was recommending fines for a cell phone company that dropped more calls than it completed and a cable system that promised upgrades but delivered weeks of service outages instead.

Telcel/America Movil, Mexico’s largest cellular provider controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, was called out for dropping calls at a rate that would make AT&T customers wince.  Cofetel found more than half of all wireless calls placed over Telcel went nowhere, forcing customers to redial, sometimes repeatedly.

Cofetel reported the carrier blamed a “glitch” it failed to inform the regulator of back in November.

Cablevision (no relation to the American company of the same name) was called out for launching a system “upgrade” that left thousands of Mexico City customers with no cable or broadband service for weeks between October and November.

Cablevision's "upgrades" = outages

Cofetel said the cable company failed to get permission for the upgrade, which the regulator would have reviewed before granting permission.

Cofetel lacks the power to directly fine offenders, but has recommended the communications ministry consider imposing close to the maximum fines allowed, ranging between $93,000-$187,000 in American dollars.  The regulatory body recognizes the fines may not deliver much of a sting to either America Movil ($1.85 billion in third quarter earnings) or Televisa ($174 million in the last quarter), which is why is it asking lawmakers to authorize much higher fines for offenders.

Cofetel caught Telcel dropping more calls than it completed.

For Mexicans accustomed to bad service, major fines could provoke relief.  Mexican telecommunications companies have notoriously poor service records.  Service disruptions from light rain or wind can disrupt service across large neighborhoods.

The United States has systematically removed government oversight from telecommunications providers, suspecting consumers will simply switch providers if one fails to deliver good service.  But if both companies fail, Americans often find they have little recourse.

Waipahu, Hawaii

At least 1,100 Hawaiian Telcom customers were left without service Sunday when vandals cut a cable providing the community northwest of Honolulu with phone and broadband service.

“Sunday night we learned that two of our cables in the Waipahu area had been cut in several places,” said Hawaiian Telcom’s Ann Nishida.

It took nearly three days to restore service to every affected customer because each cable required splicing 3,600 individual copper wires back together.  The company says all 1,100 customers had service as of 1:00pm Wednesday afternoon.

Vandals sliced apart this cable. (Courtesy: Hawaiian Telcom)

Customers reported experiencing no dial tone and having no access to the Internet.

Even as service restoration work was underway, several residents reported broadband service remained intermittent until the repairs were completed Wednesday.

Although HawTel claims vandalism to their lines is uncommon, residents in Waipahu say vandals have struck repeatedly in the community, especially when street lights aren’t working in the neighborhood.

Customers subjected to the outage should contact HawTel customer service to verify a credit for the lost day(s) of service appears on their next bill.

The company filed a police report and asked Waipahu residents who may have witnessed the vandalism to report it to local authorities.

Hawaii has had several disruptions in phone service, the most recent happening in February when a damaged AT&T fiber cable cut off long distance service to HawTel and T-Mobile customers.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KHON Honolulu Vandals Leave Hundreds in Waipahu with No Phone or Internet Service 4-7-10.flv[/flv]

KHON-TV Honolulu reports many Waipahu customers are going for the third day without phone or Internet service.  (2 minutes)