No phone service 'down south' is 'chaos'
Officials: Service is still on and off

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

Residents in Zuni, Ramah, Vanderwagen, Breadsprings, Chichiltah and Red Rock were still experiencing difficulties with telephone service Wednesday even though CenturyTel, the company that serves a majority of customers in those areas, had installed new equipment to correct the problem that caused phone service outages since Sunday.

“Right now the status is service is up, although quality of service is a bit staticky,” said Paul Carbajal, public information officer for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, on Wednesday afternoon.

A digital tracking system was brought in from Colorado, and crews were working to fix phone service, Kim Valiquette, marketing/communications manager for CenturyTel, said. An employee made the drive from Colorado to make sure the equipment arrived, she said.

“They still have a technical issue,” Valiquette said adding that service seemed to be working intermittently for those areas.

The outage affected approximately 2,000 customers, Valiquette said.

Though the new equipment was installed Tuesday night, residents, businesses and governmental entities reported they were still having problems receiving phone calls on Wednesday.

Michael Eriacho with the Ramah Chapter said that early Wednesday morning the phones were working but later in the day the service started cutting off again.

He said that the chapter was very much affected by the outage as it tried to assist community members and communicate with county officials.

“It was hindering our office’s daily routine. It was chaos and I think it still is,” Eriacho said.

“With the emergency situation we are in, we should have full service,” he said. He added that some roads are still impassable in the community.

Valiquette said that she was unsure when complete service would be back up.

“They did install the equipment and they thought that would fix the problem,” she said. “I’m not sure exactly where the problem lies. I know they’re working to get that all figured out.”

While a CenturyTel employee had acknowledged that service was on and off since Sunday, the Public Regulation Commission only received a complaint Tuesday.

Carbajal said that no one has filed an official complaint about lack of service starting on Sunday.

Even though Navajo officials and employees knew very little about what was going on, Sampson Cowboy, director of the Navajo Nation Public Safety Division, said that the Nation is aware of the situation.

“They usually notify us. They usually call the dispatch especially now that we’re having a lot of problems with utilities,” he said.

“The utility or phone company usually calls the police department, and I don’t know where the breakdown occurred,” Cowboy said. He added that the chapters and communities also need to communicate with public safety.

Eriacho said that some community members have contacted the chapter asking about the phone service but the chapter has no information to give them.

“They should have contacted us and let us know that our lines were down. That would have helped,” Cindy Stewart with the Baahaali Chapter said.

Navajo Nation Public Safety Committee member Edmund Yazzie said that he had met with the sheriff’s office and Navajo Nation police department on Tuesday, and no one brought up the issue of the lack of phone service for that area.

“That would be a concern if people needed an ambulance or police service,” he said.

Yazzie added that he found out many Navajo people now have cell phones, but service isn’t always available.

“My personal cell phone doesn’t work down south,” he said referring to the area affected by the phone outage.

Valiquette said that CenturyTel employees contacted proper authorities, though chapter employees at Ramah and Breadsprings indicated that they were never contacted by the company regarding the problem.

“They call the police before they call me or anyone,” Valiquette said.