(NAPSA)—Aproblem of bells not ringing has been taking its toll on many Americans—but the nation’s rural telephone cooperatives are seeking a solution. The Problem Many rural telephone customers have reported not receiving calls they should and experiencing poor quality when it came to the calls they did get. Frustrated consumers often blame their local telephone companies, but rural telecommunications companies are notat fault. It is believed that most rural call completion problems stem from a practice called least-cost routing (LCR), in which long-dis- tance carriers sendcalls destined for rural consumers to LCR providers to reduce expenses. In many cases, they are not prop- erly routing the call to its destination and, as a result, some calls have poor call quality and manycalls are not connecting at all. This means rural consumers may be missing important phone calls, and they may not even knowit. Seeking a Solution The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) and its rural allies are leadingefforts to find a solution to the problem. The group, which helped run the test, recently presented its findings to a task force set up by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which can impose penalties of up to $150,000 on carriers that fail to correct the problem. The rural group’s study found that call failure rates were 13 times higher in rural areas compared to those in nonruralareas. The occurrence of poor voice qual- A completed call makes a happy customer. ity was also significantly higher in rural areas. “The results of this project clearly show that much more needs to be done to resolve rural call completion issues,” said NTCA Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield. “Consumers in rural communities need to know that their local phone companies are not to blame and that rural carriers are leading efforts to find a permanent solution to this epidemic. We recognize that rural Americans deserve reliable telephone service for their personal safety and financial well-being just as much as urban consumers deserve it, and we'll continue to speak out on their behalf until this problem is solved.” The NTCAis the premier association representing independent telecommunications cooperatives and commercial companies throughout rural and small-town America. Learn More For more information, go to www.ntca.org and (703) 351-2000 or www.fec.gov and (888) 2255322.
