AT&T continues to give no satisfaction when it comes to the areas deadzones in West Central Illinois. WLDS/WEAI News received response from Phil Hayes, AT&T Corporate Communications director as well as a statement from Vice President of Regulatory and Illinois State External Affairs Joan Marsh.
Hayes’ email response reads as follows: “We have invested more than $7.2 billion in our Illinois networks in the past eight years, including Morgan County and surrounding areas. In fact, we provide coverage to a larger footprint in these areas than any other carrier. If customers have questions about their service, we suggest they contact our customer care team at 1-800-331-0500.”
Marsh’s written statement says “We applaud the Federal Communications Commission for moving forward to develop its successor – the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund – so that there is no pause in the progress for connecting Rural America. But funding must be targeted to the right places and we encourage the Commission to move rapidly to create a nationwide “fabric” of geocoded locations as the foundation for new broadband maps. The detail that the fabric will provide is the key to truly closing the digital divide.”
These continued statements and further customer complaints as well as the 9-1-1 crisis in Waverly and rural Morgan and Scott Counties that are ongoing have not been addressed by the company. WLDS/WEAI News will continue to dig further as to why the dead zones exist and what can be done to fix them.