So, just how much better is Qwest than US WEST?
A primary gauge is the number of orders held for primary service, or those for folks trying to get their first phone installed at a particular site. At the end of 1992 in Utah, when US WEST had about 800,000 access lines, it had 174 orders held. The figure climbed to 1,115 in 1996 as the company tried to keep up with huge customer-base growth.
But it ended 2000 with 423, and that figure dropped to 176 last month — and that's with a customer base now of about 1.2 million in Utah.
Held orders for primary service over 30 days dropped 46 percent last year — from 76 in December 1999 to 41 in December 2000. At the end of February this year, the figure was 21.
"That (21) is a phenomenally good number, although 21 is still 21 too many," said Ted Smith, vice president for Utah for the company.
Other Utah figures show installation commitments were met almost 98 percent of the time last year, and that was up to 98.6 percent through February. Repair commitments were met about 95 percent of the time in 2000 and 97 percent through February this year. And the percentage of out-of-service repair calls fixed in less than 24 hours improved from 75 percent in 1999 to 81 percent in 2000. Even those numbers have climbed — through February, it was 87.3 percent for 2001.
But the changes aren't just a Utah phenomenon.
In the company's territory, it met nearly 98 percent of more than 18 million promised installation commitments to customers, the best results in five years.
The percentage of repair commitments met on time as promised rose from 93 percent in 1999 to 95 percent last year. More than 80 percent of service outages were fixed in less than 24 hours, up from 63 percent a year earlier and the best customer-service results since 1995.
Held orders were reduced by more than 51 percent last year, compared with 1999. In August 1999, the company had 4,500 held orders. The figure was 1,400 last summer when Qwest acquired US WEST. It ended the year with less than 850.
Another group of stats also reflect customer service improvements. Customer complaints to public service commissions in the Qwest territory dropped 15 percent from 1999 to 2000.
In Utah, the total number of US WEST/Qwest complaints was down 2 percent, but the complaint-per-customer rate was down 6 percent. And regulators pointed out to legislators in January two key areas of improvement: a 23 percent drop in the number of initial-service complaints and a 13 percent dip in repair complaints.