The information superhighway is a four-party telephone line at Larry Larson's home in the high desert outside Cortez, Colo.
Larson is a "lone eagle," someone who lives in a remote area but works for a company in a larger city, communicating by telephone, fax and computers. But he is forbidden to hook up a fax, computer modem or answering machine to the multitelephone line."I make do," said Larson. "I expected a certain amoung of waiting (for a private line), but I didn't expect three years."
Larson is one of about 5,500 residents in US WEST Communications Inc. territory whose requests for new service have extended beyond 30 days, up from a normal figure of 2,000.
US WEST is battling its gravest consumer crisis since its birth a decade ago following the breakup of AT & T.
From Washington to New Mexico, thousands of customers, utility regulators and employees are frustrated and angry over a horrific backlog of service and repair orders, the likes of which US WEST has never seen.
US WEST officials say they have fallen behind because of the West's booming economy, which has brought more people into the region than projected. But the company says it has taken steps to resolve the problems.
In a review of regulatory agency records across US WEST's 14-state territory, The Associated Press found some customers have waited months and even years for new service.
"I was dumbfounded," said Howard Olson, who waited nearly three months for residential telephone service in Evergreen, just west of Denver. "I couldn't believe it. You can't live without a phone today. It's not just a convenience; it's for safety."
Betty and Lloyd Mann retired four years ago to a rural subdivision in central Arizona. They still are waiting for phone services. US WEST has said it will cost nearly $1 million to install new lines.
In June, Jeff Leister requested telephone service for his new home in rural Amsterdam, Mont. In early September, Leister was confined to his home with a broken back but still could not get telephone service. He complained to the Montana Public Service Commission, which contacted US WEST on Oct. 5. The next day, Leister had a telephone.
"I wish I would have made that call a little sooner. You believe them until you get that fourth pushoff for 30 days," he said.
Thresa Rudolph Vigil, who lives near Santa Fe, N.M., requested service in October 1992, but US WEST said access lines were at capacity and it would cost $10,000 to install new lines.
In October 1993, Vigil's mother and her 4-year-old son were in a car accident. Her mother died and her son remained at a hospital for five hours until an employee could drive to her home to notify her.
In July 1993, another son suffered an asthma attack and lost consciousness. Vigil had to flag down a motorist who drove to a phone and called authorities.
"When I ran back to the house, he had regained consciousness, bu the was still very blue and purple," Vigil told the Public Utility Commission. "I realized at that point what a very serious situation we were in."
David Nabors of Advanced TV Repair in Cheyenne, Wyo., has lost telephone service for two to four days every month for the past three months. It has taken repair technicians from one to three days each time to fix the problem.
"They say they give you a refund for every day you're out of service. What is it, a couple of dollars? That sort of thing doesn't make up for my modest income I get from my small TV repair shop," he says. "I would rather have the customers than the refund."
On July 26, developer Mark Bornstein ordered two telephone lines to open a sales office in a new subdivision in Olympia, Wash. US WEST missed the promised Aug. 15 installation and reassigned his numbers to another business.
He was told he would have to wait until November or December for service. "Phone service, whether it's GTE or US WEST or whoever, it's like anything else: As long as you get service, I don't care who the provider is. But when you're not getting service, and you have no choices, it makes it real difficult," he said.
The AP review also turned up thousands of complaints about persistant busy signals at US WEST business offices; being left on hold for lengthy spells; delays in repairs; and broken promises for service.
US WEST has created "a crisis inside the company and for each of our members," Communications Workers of America told a recent gathering of utility regulators.
"We are frustrated because management's current approach is causing our members harm with customers," she said, adding that "morale is at an all-time low." her union represents about 38,000 US WEST workers.
US WEST made some judgement errors, particularly in forecasting the West's growth, creating the most serious consumer problems it has ever faced, Tom Bystrzycki, a US WEST executive vice president, told the AP in an interview.
"We're taking this very, very seriously," he said. "We really want ourselves totally out of trouble on this this year and not have it recurring next year."
The company's belief that a population boom led to its problems doesn't placate many skeptical utility regulators.
"I don't think, in my opinion from where I sit, growth is the explanation for the state of Nebraska," said Gene Hand, a Nebraska Public Serivce Commission spokesman. "They are in a position to anticipate that."
Arizona Corporation Commission spokesman Jon Poston said, "You do not have to have an extremely advanced intellect to discover there's a building boom on ...This utility should have reasonably sophisticated planning, but the results of that planning don't show."
The Montana Public Service Commission has decided to sue over the poor service performance. Four other states have launched formal investigations.
Some utility regulators and labor unions have accused the Englewood-based telecommunications giant of funneling more resources into preparing for a future in the high-tech world instead of providing simple telephone service.
"The company is spending a lot of time focusing on providing high-end services by the partnerships they've done outside US WEST, investing millions and billions of dollars in foreign countries," said Hill of the CWA.
In addition, CWA contends the company has consolidated operations and cut jobs too quickly.
Bystrzycki dismissed the allegations, emphasizing US WEST's commitment to telephone service.
"There has been no reduction in what we have put into local phone service," he said. "We are spending more now than what we have any time prior to divestiture."
US WEST is one of the seven regional companies created in 1984 by the breakup of American Telephone & Telegraph. In 1985, a government analysis oconsluded the breakup had caused more service problems and installation delays.
Today, US WEST serves 14.2 million customers and has cable TV, cellular and telephone-related operations in a dozen countries. Earlier this year, it invested $2.5 billion in a partnership with Time-Warner.
The West's population increase created a heavy demand for telephone service to new housing areas, and for faxes, computer modems and features such as teen lines.
A complication arose from a developing work force of people who live in remote areas an communicate by telephone and computer with employers.
"To be real frank, we revised the (growth) forecast several times. It turned out to be much bigger than we anticipated," Bystrzycki said.
At the same time the region was booming, US WEST launched a restructuring to consolidate work centers from 560 to 26 (three in Salt Lake City), cut 9,000 jobs and upgrade equipment, including some systems that are 20 years old.
The new automated company will be designed to stay ahead and even trouleshoot potential repair problems, Bystrzycki said.
The combination of the growth and the restructuring caused consumer woes to snowball, he said.
During the summer, about 8 percent of the job loss had occurred and US WEST was moving ahead with training for the new systems.
That's when consumer complaints peaked, with an average of 80 percent of the business office callers waiting longer than the company standard of 20 seconds to reach a representative.
A voice message informed many they would have to wait at least 10 minutes to reach a representative, said Hill.
To solve the problems, US WEST has poured about $41 million more into construction this year than last to move up projects previously scheduled in the fall of 1995 back to 1994.
It has mandated overtime for workers, added employees and held internal meetings to emphasize customer service. It even put together an advertising campaign to counter negative news stories.
Bystrzycki said he already has seen some improvement in business office calls. About 85 percent are being answered within 20 seconds. The company hopes to cut the list of waiting customers from 5,500 to about 3,500 by year end.
Despite some problems, Bystrzycki believes overall consumer confidence in the company remains high.
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Additional Information
Some of the issues US WEST is facing
US WEST Communications issues in the 14 states it serves:
Arizona: Regulators are monitoring the situation. Complaints jumped from 12 in a typical year to an average of 300 a month in the summer. Now, complaints range about 100 a month.
Colorado: The Public Utilities Commission has formally ordered US WEST to explain delays in service and repair requests. A commission investigation determined US WEST failed to provide adequate service. As of October, 2,700 people had waited for service more than 30 days.
Idaho: The Public Utilities Commission is reviewing a series of recommendations aimed at improving US WEST service. Complaints jumped from 52 in 1991 to 122 in 1993. Year-to-date complaints totaled 56.
Iowa: State investigation ongoing. The Iowa Utilities Board has fielded at least 20 complaints in the past four months.
Minnesota: State investigation ongoing. The number of "held" orders-- people who have waited more than 30 days for new service-- totaled 393 Oct. 18, compared with 415 in July 1992. Some customers waited up to five months for new phones, and a union official was put on hold for 32 minutes when he called the company.
Montana: The Montana Public Service Commission has voted to sue US WEST over service and repair order problems. It contends US WEST failed to clear at least 85 percent of out-of-service calls within 24 hours and failed to serve customers seeking installation and repair work within required deadlines. As of August, there were 281 backlogged service orders, including 148 people who had waited at least a month.
Nebraska: State investigation ongoing. "Held" orders-- people who have waited more than 30 days for new service-- increased from zero in January to 39 in September.
New Mexico: The Public Utility Commission is trying to work out an agreement with US WEST on cutting delays. "Held orders-- people who have waited more than 30 days for service-- jumped from 303 in December 1993 to 1,027 at the end of August. The problems have been reported statewide, with the highest number of complaints in the Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos areas.
North Dakota: There are no reports of increased problems with US WEST service.
Oregon: There have been no reports of increased problems with US WEST service.
South Dakota: The Public Utilities Commission is considering a formal investigation. Complaints to the commission totaled 241 in the past 12 months, and unfilled installation orders totaled 91 at the end of August, up from 76 in January.
Utah: The Utah Public Service Commission is monitoring the situation and may recommend new service quality rules in the next month. Complaints increased from 383 between January and September in 1993 to 408 between January and September of this year. Unfilled service orders are rising, but commission officials didn't have a total. They are scattered across the state, but are concentrated in high-growth areas, such as southwestern Utah, the Salt Lake Valley and Summit County.
Washington: The Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission has warned US WEST that it must improve service and is working informally with the company. Complaints increased from 23 in 1992 to 249 last year. From January to September, complaints totaled 296. Most of the complaints were concentrated in Vancouver and Spokane County.
Wyoming: The Wyoming Public Service Commission has ordered US WEST to hire enough people to resolve service problems, submit quarterly written reports on the impact of its re-engineering effort and file a strategic plan to correct the service problems. US WEST has filed a petition for reconsideration, which is pending before the commission. It contends the PSC's findings were unfounded. No figures were available on the number of complaints or backlogged service orders.
Regionwide: As of October, US WEST had about 5,500 new service orders that were unfilled for more than one month. About 80 percent of the business office calls were being answered within 20 seconds in September, compared with just 20 percent in July. The company increased its field construction budget by $41 million this year and moved up projects scheduled next year to 1994. It also installed 135,000 access lines regionwide in September, a company record.
Source: Associated Press survey