For more than a week, residents and businesses in Washington County have been having problems with their conversations being heard when they place a call.

Businesses, schools and government agencies are having to make special considerations to deal with the lack of call quality and say they are anxious for the problem to be resolved.

Brenda Padgitt, with WMOA, said she has been in contact with AT&T due to phone issues at the radio station and was told there was a compatibility issue between their customers and Suddenlink phone customers. She said that AT&T representatives have said the problem will be fixed by the end of business hours today.

Rick Peoples, commissioners clerk, said the courthouse’s phone system has been experiencing problems since Thursday.

“We’re just struggling,” he said.

He said he has been receiving calls, but when he answers them, he can’t hear the person calling his office. It has become so problematic, he said they are working on a greeting to inform people of the issues with the phone system.

“We are doing it so people don’t feel like we are ignoring them,” he said.

Jessica Thompson, receptionist at Settlers Bank in Marietta, said she has been dealing with the problem for two weeks.

“It’s becoming very frustrating,” she said. “I can’t hear them.”

She said her workload has significantly increased with the phone problems.

“I have to take a log of all the numbers that call me, then call them back if I can’t hear them,” she said.

The phone problems have also affected the ability of parents to contact their children’s school in Marietta.

Jane Page, the receptionist at Harmar Elementary, said she is also growing frustrated with the problems.

“It either rings and they don’t hear you or you can’t hear them,” she said.

She said there is a tell-tale sign when a call comes in that notifies her that there is going to be a problem.

“It comes across my caller ID as incompatible, whatever that means,” she said.

She said parents that can’t get through via the phone can still contact any school in the city.

“People can go to Marietta City Schools’ web page (mariettacityschools.k12.oh.us) and get email addresses for all the secretaries in Marietta,” she said.

Donny Rader is in charge of the county’s information technology department and said he believes the problem is associated with one carrier.

“Anything coming from an AT&T cell phone or land line is affected,” he said.

Rader said he has been addressing the problem since Thursday and is confident that the issues aren’t on his end of the call process. He said he called AT&T at the end of last week about the glitch, but still hasn’t heard anything back from them.

Rader said a quick solution for people to try may not be convenient, but for now is the only answer.

“Try and find a Verizon phone, I guess,” he said.

AT&T didn’t return a call for comment Monday. A Suddenlink representative said the company has been receiving many complaints across the region but they believe the issue is AT&T.

At a glance

•People are having problems hearing and being heard during phone calls in Washington County.

•It is causing problems for schools, businesses and government agencies.

•The Washington County IT Department suspects it is a problem with AT&T, preventing its customers from correctly connecting during phone calls with Suddenlink customers.

•AT and T has said the problem should be fixed by the end of business today.

Source: Times research.