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Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) discussed call quality and reliability in rural areas at a House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Hearing Thursday afternoon. Participating in the hearing was Lance Miller, President of the McClure Telephone Company in McClure, Ohio, located in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District. Latta, a co-chair of the bipartisan Rural Broadband Caucus, explained in his opening statement how unreliable service impacts rural communities.

Latta also asked Mr. Miller if he had lost any customers or business due to call reliability issues.

“Unreliable telephone service jeopardizes the viability of rural economies, impairs communications with family and friends, and places communities at risk in life threatening and emergency situations,” said Latta. “The issues of dropped calls, false ringing, and poor quality are not occurring due to the service offered by rural telecommunications providers, but rather by intermediate providers who try to avoid the cost of routing calls through more expensive, rural regions. Unfortunately, telecommunications providers are left with no way to assist their customers when these problems occur because the call is not tracked and is not reaching their local network.”  



(From L to R: Congressman Bob Latta, Lance Miller, Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR))

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