Ameritech says service is improved

THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
YOUNGSTOWN -- Ameritech, which was under siege a year ago because of customer complaints, said it has improved its service to business and residential customers in Ohio.
In a report for the April-June period to be filed soon with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Ameritech says it installed service within five days more than 94 percent of the time and kept more than 93 percent of installation appointments. The PUCO standard is 90 percent in both cases.
Ameritech said it improved the wait time of customers calling into the business office. Calls into Ohio's call centers were answered in an average of 43 seconds in the second quarter, compared to 55 seconds in the second quarter last year. The standard is 60 seconds.
In the last quarter, service was restored within 24 hours in residential outages about 82 percent of the time, compared to 74 percent in the same quarter last year.
"The second quarter of the year is traditionally our busiest time," said Jim Smith, president of Ameritech Ohio. "Spring storms and moving season place additional demand on the network and requests for our service.