Editorial: Local residents going crazy over AT&T excuses

AT&T telephone land lines haven’t been working in this area since Aug. 24, the day we had a big storm.
Yesterday, a resident came into our office to announce – in great frustration — she was just told she wouldn’t get her service back until the end of September.
For service to be out for more than a month is most peculiar. People have been calling AT&T and getting excuses like the storm ruined some equipment and they are fixing it.
AT&T also has hired people who are going to the doors of their customers offering them cell phones to use and promising to pay for a week or so of their non-existent service.
There are those who say it must have been a cyberattack and/or a large ransom has been demanded. That’s possible, we guess.
A man called our office and said he and his wife are senior citizens who live out in the country in Sumpter Township and they depend on their phone for health assistance. They are more than distraught.
A woman called to say she, too, lives out in Sumpter and works from her home. She said with her land line down, she tries to use her cell phone, but service is so bad she has to go outside to make a call.
Whatever the real reason for the AT&T failure, we know people are leaving them to find a reliable service. There are options.