A telecommunications headache that affected the Marietta area for more than two weeks was rectified by service providers last week, but lingering problems persist for some customers.

Amy Tucker, IT manager for the city of Marietta safety services, said service is better but some problems persist for the city’s fire and police department.

“I haven’t been able to narrow it down to specific (telecom service) providers, it’s just really hard to troubleshoot,” she said Thursday. “Our volume of calls is pretty minimal except for police and fire. They’ve had some problems, so it’s definitely reduced but not completely fixed.”

The most frequently reported problem was the failure of voice transmission from AT&T wireless customers when calling Suddenlink VOIP (voice over internet protocol) landlines. AT&T customers who called Suddenlink VOIP systems, which include the city, the county and Marietta City Schools, would connect but the answering party would not hear them. The problem was initially reported in the third week of April and continued through the beginning of May.

Janet Meaghan, a corporate spokeswoman for Altice, Inc., the parent company of Suddenlink, said the problem originated with another service provider.

“The issue, which has been resolved, was investigated immediately upon discovery and required advanced troubleshooting between multiple parties,” Meaghan said in a written statement. “It was identified that failed network maintenance conducted by Windstream was responsible for the phone service disruptions between AT&T and Suddenlink. Suddenlink then promptly implemented a solution that eliminated the service issue, and we thank our impacted customers for their patience.”

Kate MacKinnon of AT&T said her company determined that its network was not at fault.

“We have confirmed our network operated normally. Our team was in contact with the local provider in the area as they worked to resolve the issue in their network,” she said in a written statement.

A corporate communications official at Windstream, which is based in Little Rock, Ark., contacted by The Marietta Times, said he would attempt to find information on the issue, but he was unable to do so by the end of the day Thursday. According to Federal Communications records, the company holds six licenses in Ohio under various names. The company announced Feb.25 it was seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following an adverse federal court decision but will continue to operate.

Donnie Rader, IT manager for Washington County government operations, said the only remaining issue appears to be an echo effect in the line in some locations.

“For the most part, it’s good, 99 percent better than it was,” he said.

Although the Marietta City Schools telecom system wasn’t directly affected by the problem, some of the people and organizations it commonly deals with were. Harmar Elementary School Principal Cheryl Cook said anyone calling from the school couldn’t communicate with county offices, for example, but on Thursday she said everything seemed to be back to normal.

Matt Schilling, a media spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, said Thursday the commission received 39 reports of service problems during the period.

“Last week, we were talking with AT&T and Suddenlink, and according to the most recent update all the reported complaints have been resolved,” he said Thursday afternoon. “We checked with the people who have contacted us, and they all said they’re OK, although Suddenlink still owes us an official response on this. They have told us it’s all squared away.”

Schilling said the PUCO encourages anyone who is still having difficulty to file a report. The agency can be contacted at 800-686-7826.

Telephone trouble in Marietta

• Starting around the third week in April, Suddenlink landline customers and AT&T wireless phones were unable to communicate.

• Problem continued through first week in May.

• Some customers, including the city of Marietta, are still having occasional problems.

• Suddenlink indicated the problem originated with failed maintenance work by Windstream.

Source: Times research.