Consumers hammer on alternative phone firms

Alana Roberts

Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 | 10:52 a.m.

Public Utilities Commission of Nevada officials were surprised to hear members of the public sound off more about their phone service than about their gas or electric service at a general consumer session Thursday in Las Vegas.

"Usually we have a lot of questions on gas and electric," David Chairez, a spokesman for the PUC, said.

The meeting was held before ratepayers learned of a major rate-hike requested by Southwest Gas Corp. on Thursday.

He said the meetings are a great way to find out how utilities are affecting consumers.

"It was interesting, that's why we have these things. We just don't assume things we find out what's on peoples' minds," Chairez said.

The PUC regulates providers of electricity, gas, telecommunication services, railroad operations and most water providers, except for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Several complaints focused on extra costs and general hassles related to switching residential telephone service providers. Members of the public said in the wake of the deregulation of telephone service and the recent enactment of telephone number portability, both of which were designed to give consumers freedom, the simple act of switching residential service remains a complicated task.

Telephone portability allows consumers to switch wireless providers while allowing them to keep their phone numbers. It also allows customers to use their home phone numbers for their cell phones. Consumers in Southern Nevada have had a variety of telephone companies to choose from since the late 1990s, which is a part of telephone deregulation.

"As we all know, there has been a tremendous deregulation process in telecommunications," Raymond Smith said.

"Why is it so hard (to switch residential service)?"

Smith said after trying to switch in August from Mpower Communications Corp. to another company he declined to name, he still hasn't received service from the new company he chose.

"We've had numerous problems with their (Mpower's) service so I opted to go with another company. We were with them for 18 days and on the 19th day we lost a dial tone for three days. They informed us we were taken back to Mpower because the proper form wasn't filled out. There was a service line freeze, but we never authorized a service line freeze," Smith said.

He said after inquiring about the problem he was told that he needed to submit a form to Sprint Corp. and then it would be given to Mpower. He said he still doesn't receive service from the company he has chosen but receives it from Mpower.

Representatives of Mpower were not present at Thursday's session, but Jennifer Rohrbach, an operations manager at Mpower's Las Vegas office, said the company tries to ensure a simple and smooth transition between providers.

"The process can differ depending on whether a customer is a residential or business customer. Business customers are under contract. They may incur early termination fees if they don't fulfil the terms of the contract. There would be no fee for switching away. We don't have contracts for residential customers," Rohrbach said.

She said all of the legwork involved in switching customers either to or away from Mpower is done by the company. She said if a customer is switching away from Mpower to another company, its up to the new company to ensure the customer has service.

"Once the customer is on the new network new company's, network there not much we can do. The standard turnaround time is five to seven business days for both residential and business (customers)," Rohrbach said.

Smith's situation highlights the largely unregulated nature of competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), Donald Soderberg, chairman of the PUC, said.

"They're (CLECs) certificated with the state through our agency. They traditionally have a lesser level of regulation. There seems to be service problems that come up (often). A lot of it has to do with the switching," Soderberg said.

Mpower is the largest of the CLECs serving Southern Nevada. The prices of such companies are not regulated by the PUC.

The PUC does regulate the price of regular service for Sprint. Sprint is known as an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC). The CLECs either lease phone lines and equipment from Sprint or have their own lines and equipment and sell their service to customers at a profit.

Members of the PUC's Consumer Complaint Resolution Division were on hand at the meeting to ensure that those with problems could get their issues resolved quickly.

Representatives of some utilities were also present during the session.

Detra Page, a Sprint spokeswoman who was present at the session, said her company makes every effort to ease the process of switching providers.

"We've worked very hard to make sure the customers can switch seamlessly. For the most part it goes smoothly," Page said after the session.

But Joe Brondon, general manager of XO Communications in Nevada, said there is a lot of manual work involved for CLECs when trying to switch customers from ILECs. XO Communications specializes in small and medium-sized business customers. Brondon did not attend the session.

"Those incumbent carriers could be a little more proactive in dealing with CLECs. I think they're more reactive."

Still Brondon said the paperwork involved in switching carriers is necessary to protect customers from slamming. He said in the mid 1980s to the early 1990s some long distance carriers would arbitrarily set customers up with their service without permission, a process known as slamming.

"It is a task that allows a lot of documentation. Customers may feel a level of frustration. The slamming of long distance service in the mid 80s and early 90s set a precedent for the process we go through," Brondon said.

Other consumers complained about the various taxes and fees they find on their bills as well as charges for service they felt were unauthorized.

"I protest the excessive charges by AT&T and Sprint. Taxes and various surcharges amount to almost 50 percent of my bill," Lillian Littell said.

"I don't want all of the extra charges that have nothing to do with the phone bill. You must pay all of your bill or they can cut off your services. For a senior it's very vital to have a telephone."

She said she has trouble with the bill but isn't interested in charity.

"I don't want charity. I do want all of the extra charges that have nothing to do with the telephone (to be taken off)," Littell said.

Page said Sprint has special rates for those who qualify called the Lifeline rate.