GILMER COMMUNITY WITHOUT PHONE SERVICE ABOUT TWO WEEKS

(12/31/2019)
Residents along Bull Run Road in Gilmer County say their phones have been silent for nearly two weeks.

"I got up that morning and checked my email. Got online, on Facebook for a little bit. One of my neighbors had posted asking if anyone else's phone was out. I went and checked ours and sure enough it was out," said Sherry Smith, a Gilmer County resident.

Customers have been trying to get Frontier Communications to fix the lines.

"I contacted them on three separate occasions because we don't have any alternative phones here and cell phones don't work," said Smith.

The problem extended into Cedarville, making access to emergency services difficult.

"We have elderly people in the area, and people with babies and young children. For medical emergency purposes, we need our phones," said Smith. Frontier Communications staff released a statement about the outage:

"Frontier crews responded promptly after a recent rainstorm caused significant damage to telephone poles and cables that serve area customers and are located in a hard-to-access site. We must take into account safety conditions and also include time to procure and deliver necessary materials. We expect the work to be completed and services restored within the next few days. We regret any inconvenience to our customers and thank them for their patience as crews complete the work and restore service." But customers will continue making their voices heard.