THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

ONE ASHBURTON PLACE
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02108

MARTHA COAKLEY (617) 727-2200

Attorney General www.ago.state.ma.us

August 13, 2009

Catrice Williams
Secretary
Department of Telecommunications and Cable
Two South Station, fourth floor
Boston, MA 02110

Re: DTC 09-1

Secretary Williams:

On February 9, 2009, the Department of Telecommunications and Cable (“Department”)

issued a Request for Comment on its proposal to open a regional investigation of Verizon
Massachusetts’ (“Verizon”) basic service quality in the Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire, and
Franklin Counties (“Request for Comment”). On June 1, 2009, the Department issued a final
Order to open a regional investigation into Verizon’s quality of service in Western
Massachusetts. Investigation by the Department of Telecommunications and Cable on its own
motion pursuant to General Law Chapter 159, Section 16, of the telephone service quality of
Verizon New England, Inc., d/b/a Verizon Massachusetts, in Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire
and Franklin Counties, p. 1.

On February 23, 2009, in accordance with the procedural schedule in the Department’s
Request for Comment on its proposal to open a regional investigation of Verizon Massachusetts’
service quality, the Attorney General submitted initial comments. In addition, the Attorney
General submitted reply comments to the Department on March 9, 2009. In these comments, the
Attorney General expressed her support for a regional investigation of Verizon Massachusetts’s
service quality in Western Massachusetts. At page two of her Initial Comments, the Attorney
General noted that Verizon’s service quality reporting for 2008 showed numerous individual
wire centers in Western Massachusetts with sub-par service quality. The Attorney General also
reiterates her opposition to any allowance of a two-tier telecommunications system in the
Commonwealth where Western Massachusetts receives a different level of service quality than
other areas of the state. See Attorney General’s Reply Comments, Proposed Regional Service
Quality Investigation, p. 2 (March 9, 2009).
 The Department should now conduct full adjudicatory proceedings, including discovery,
hearings, and the right to present evidence, cross examine witnesses and submit briefs. The
Department should determine, among other issues, the trends of service quality over time, by
exchange, and, in particular, service quality in Western Massachusetts compared to the rest of
the state. Although, of course, the investigation is focused upon Western Massachusetts, the
Department should allow for the presentation of information about operations in other parts of
the state so that those can be compared to the operations in Western Massachusetts.

Inasmuch as the Department has heard many expressions of concern during the Public
Hearings it conducted recently regarding public safety issues1 raised by poor service quality in
Western Massachusetts, where often no backup wireless service exists, the Department should
establish an appropriate schedule for this investigation to address these urgent concerns while
preserving the due process rights of all of the parties.

The Department should adopt the recommendations in these comments in the best
interests of consumers.

Sincerely,

/s/ Sandra Callahan Merrick

M. Katherine Eade
Sandra Callahan Merrick
Assistant Attorneys General

cc: service list

1
“Suppose, for example, one of the many people on our road had required medical, fire or police assistance between
July 27 and August 3, 2009? During those eight days, our neighbors and we had neither telephone nor dial –up
Internet service.” Greenfield Public Hearing, Tr. Vol. A, p. 12.; “We really were without a phone for sure for three
weeks, probably three and a half weeks. That part of Conway has no cell phone service. We had no way to call if
there’s a fire.” Florence Public Hearing, Tr. Vol. B, pp. 21-22.; “…there’s an elderly gentleman who lives on East
Road. He drove up to the highway station one day…and was experiencing chest pains and he asked to use the
telephone. He had no dial tone at his house.” Pittsfield Public Hearing, Tr. Vol. C, p. 26.; “…they wouldn’t have
phone service. That is really the big concern for me. It is really a safety factor. Those are precious minutes….If
I’m wasting time contacting them, it could prove fatal in an emergency.”, Chester Public Hearing, Tr. Vol. E, p. 24.