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Frontier Communications off to rocky start taking over AT&T operations [New Haven Register, Conn.](New Haven Register (CT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 25--Frontier Communications got off to a rough start with its new Connecticut customer base Saturday as the Internet and television service it purchased from AT&T experienced an as yet undetermined number of problems. Frontier officially took control of the network at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and it didn't take long for customers to start complaining. New Haven Register readers from Branford, Cheshire, Hamden and even as far away as Griswold reported either no Internet service at all or problems accessing certain sites. A Shelton resident reported his AT&T UVerse television service was off-line Saturday morning. Several readers reported being put on hold for as long as 45 minutes when calling for technical support. Brigid Smith, a Frontier spokeswoman, said in a statement that the company "was aware of and has fixed a few television channel issues which have been limited in nature." Smith made no mention of the Internet problems. "We continue to monitor all our systems and will address anything additional that may arise," Smith said. "We appreciate customers' patience during the switchover process and would encourage anyone experiencing difficulty with their service to please call us at 1.888.FRONTIER or e-mail [email protected] ." But Bill Henderson, president of Local 1298 of the Communications Workers of America, said some problems were to be expected as systems were changed from AT&T to Frontier. The union represents technicians who service the phone systems, Internet service and U-verse. "When you're dealing with that much data, some things are bound to fall through the cracks," Henderson said. "It's my understanding that 99 percent of the problems [have] been cleared up." Frontier and AT&T announced the $2 billion deal in December 2013. It received final regulatory approval from the state earlier this month. ___ (c)2014 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) Visit the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) at www.nhregister.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |