| UPDATE - A meeting is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday with the Calhoun Commission and Frontier Communications set by the West Virginia Public Service Commission.
That meeting was scheduled so Frontier could review the completion and fixes to a longtime landline disconnect problem in the Five Forks-Big Springs.
Five Forks-Big Springs residents have indicated they want to attend the hearing.
The Calhoun Commission denied Frontier's request to drop the formal complaint, essentially since Frontier has been making progress with the fix.
Two previous deadlines regarding the fix have come and gone.
ORIGINAL STORY - Five Forks and Big Springs Frontier land-line customers have continued to complain this week to the Calhoun Commission over continued lack of land-line service and disconnects of basic phone services.
The Calhoun Commission filed a formal complaint against Frontier over eight months ago.
Frontier Communications has been advising the WV Public Service Commission and the Calhoun Commission that efforts are continuing to replace sub-station equipment, with Frontier's attorney requesting the Calhoun Commission drop the formal complaint, based on their continuing efforts to fix the problem.
The commission has declined to drop the complaint, and it's unclear if a February 10 meeting with the WV-PSC, Frontier and the Calhoun Commission is still on.
That meeting was to have reviewed Frontier's fixes and resolve the complaint filed by the Calhoun Commission on behalf of citizens eight months ago.
The formal complaint was filed on June 11, 2014 by the commission, following dozens of citizens complaints, Frontier said that the problem would be fixed by the end of 2014.
Frontier then said the problem would be resolved by January 31, 2015, but then advised that the replacement and repair work had not been completed.
Five Forks-Big Springs residents complained about extended disruptions of service going back years, creating problems for many elderly citizens unable to call 911 for emergency services or do well-being checks with family members.
Customer David White said, after complaining this week, "The Phone company said there were 58-60 people having problems and that they were working on it," a response customers have heard numerous times.
White said that the phone service has been out for several different days within the last few weeks, causing a problem to reach family members for well-being checks.
"Seems like if we get a call or make a call when the phone works, as soon as we hang up it was dead again. It has been on and off
throughout the day and night since then. Sometimes for a few minutes sometimes all day or night," White said.
Customer Deb Goff said Friday, "I reported my phone out around 11:00 a.m. Thursday and was told it would be repaired Feb. 9 (5 days later) and I was to be given a $25 credit after requesting it."
Goff said the disruptions have been going on for several years.
"My 91-year-old aunt lives near me and has Life Alert, which she had to use two days after Christmas when she fell and couldn't get up. Fortunately, her phone was working at that time," Goff said.
"Now she sits by her phone and picks it up every hour to see if it's working or not. She is obsessed with the thought that it's not going to work at a time when she needs it."
Golf continued to complain about Frontier's "high speed" Internet service.
"I do on-line banking and I can only pay my bills on-line early in the morning before many people get on the Internet. I have tried many, many times to do on-line banking, or place an order in the evenings with no success," she said.
See CALHOUN AT END OF BROADBAND PIPELINE IN WV
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