Virginia Graziani

Redwood Times

Judging from the turnout at its scheduled community meeting, Verizon Communications has successfully completed its upgrade of the troubled telephone system in the Ettersburg and Wilder Ridge area and is fully committed to continuing improvements to its service in Southern Humboldt.

Nine Verizon representatives addressed an audience made up of 2nd District Supervisor Clif Clendenen, 1st District Supervisor Jimmy Smith, this reporter, and one disgruntled customer from the Benbow area at the Veterans Memorial Building, in Garberville on Wednesday evening, Jan 27.

Last September several Verizon representatives met with a roomful of Ettersburg and Wilder Ridge residents who had been experiencing extended periods without phone service, excessive static on the lines, and a lack of response from the company’s complaint system. Approximately 115 households were affected, according to Verizon.

The problems were caused by breakdowns of aging, obsolete equipment for which replacement parts were no longer being made, Verizon explained in September. The company promised to have new equipment installed by mid-January 2010 -- a promise met with skepticism by the residents.

Mike Elliott, Verizon’s northern California division director, began Wednesday’s meeting by giving credit to the team headed by Alan Reilly, director of planning and engineering.

”A project like this usually takes six months,” Elliott said, “but Reilly’s team pulled it together in half that time.” By mid-October the team had developed a work plan and Verizon had received the new equipment, including two devices that connect rural signals to the communications hub in Garberville.

During the next month, field teams worked on installing the new equipment. Electric power to operate the equipment was in place by mid-December, allowing Verizon to begin “migrating” customers to the new system.

Some customers temporarily lost service during the “migration,” Elliott continued, but by mid-January the problems were resolved.

During all phases of the project, Verizon kept customers informed with monthly mailers, including a final mailer announcing Wednesday’s meeting.

”This is not the end of Verizon’s investment in this community,” Reilly added, taking the floor. He described several improvement projects planned for Southern Humboldt.

First, the company will work to reinforce radio frequency to Pratt Mountain and Whitethorn Mountain, enabling growth of service in remote rural areas of SoHum.

Secondly, they will improve the field switching gear called digital loop carriers (DLC’s) in Crooked Prairie and Shelter Cove.

Additionally, Verizon is currently developing plans for more upgrades to DLC’s in 2011. In 2012, they hope to upgrade the interoffice fiber (IOF) that forms the backbone of the communications network from Pratt Mountain to Piercy.

Supervisor Clendenen asked if DSL high-speed Internet service would be made available by these improvements. No, Reilly replied, but added that dial-up speed will increase.

The dissatisfied customer from Benbow stated that he had been using Verizon for ten years. Since last March he had been experiencing long phone outages and buzzing on the line. He received no response to complaints.

His complaints were similar to those of the Ettersburg residents last September. Bob Denning, area manager for rural northern California, responded, “This sounds like it’s a cable issue and we can fix it.”

”I don’t care if you fix it or not,” the unhappy customer declared, “I’m tired of waiting on you.” Denning asked for his phone number, and the customer gave it out as he left the room.

Supervisors Clendenen and Smith, whose districts include parts of the Ettersburg/Wilder Ridge area, expressed appreciation for Verizon’s timely work and responsiveness.

”We get lots of complaints on various issues,” Smith said, “but the fact that schools and emergency services were involved made this especially critical.”

Holly Cole, Verizon’s director of government affairs, promised to meet with the two supervisors the next time she’s in Humboldt County and perhaps make a presentation to the full board.

Cole also said that Verizon would like to work with local schools and health care providers. “Education and health care are among our main interests,” she said.

In addition to Reilly, Elliott, Denning and Cole, Verizon representatives attending Wednesday’s meeting included Bryan Proctor, local manager; John Davies, director of external affairs, Dennis Harmon; Manny Honaca, switching manager, and Tim McGlathery, manager of switching installation.

Any residents having problems with Verizon services should call Bryan Proctor in Verizon’s Garberville office at 923-3216.