CA Government Works

Recently I ordered a T1 from ATT (SBC... PacBell...) for my small business and encountered such tremendous difficulties that I decided to complain to my government representatives. While I recieved no response from the offices of Feinstein or Lee, Boxer's office was nice enough to send this non-commital reply:

Dear Mr. Shelton:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the proposed merger between AT&T and BellSouth. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your comments on this issue.

As you know, AT&T has announced its plan to buy BellSouth for $67 billion. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will now conduct a review of the proposed deal to ensure that it would be in the public interest.

As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over telecommunications issues, please know that I am monitoring this situation closely. Rest assured, I will keep your views in mind as the review process continues.

Again, thank you for writing to me. Please feel free to contact me again about any issue of importance to you.

However, I also decided to complain to the California PUC. Do you know what? Within one week of my complaint I received a call from "the Chairman's office" of ATT, offering to make sure that my problem was corrected. And today I am happily sitting in my new office with a working T1 circuit. Hooray! Complaining to the government works! Here is where you can go for help, if you are in California -- CPUC File a Complaint Online