Emergency 911 calls are routed through FairPoint Communications, the company where about 800 Maine-based employees went on strike Friday.
That has some law enforcement officials worried about who will maintain the company’s infrastructure if something should go wrong at one of the 26 dispatch centers — or public safety answering points — around the state. Problems could range from a broken keyboard to a downed workstation to something more severe.
Meanwhile, the strike has members of various police departments — including Brunswick, Rockland and Portland — on round-the-clock watches.
Who’s taking care of the watchmen? State regulators say management of the state’s emergency 911 system is under especially close watch. The system is run by the Emergency Services Communication Bureau, a part of the Public Utilities Commission that contracted FairPoint to build and maintain the country’s first statewide, Internet-based 911 dispatch system. Without workers on duty, it means either managers at FairPoint or outside contractors will have to respond to maintenance requests on the system. And before they can work on that system, they need to be fingerprinted and clear a background check.
Tom Welch, chairman of the PUC, said Friday it’s too early to tell what the impact of the strike might be on any of FairPoint’s systems but that the company weeks ago satisfied state officials that it had a viable plan for upholding its 911 contract in the event of a strike.
Deputy Police Chief Marc Hagan of the Brunswick Police Department said Friday that he’s confident FairPoint will be able to respond to any 911 issues — and that FairPoint management, which is non-union, “is in a position to handle any emergency.”
Did I hear, ‘oceanfront property in Lewiston?’ FairPoint’s contract with the state requires it to resolve issues with the 911 system within four hours. Brody Hinckley, director of communications for the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office, said he’s concerned that contract workers won’t be up to the job of maintaining Maine’s unique IP-based system.
“ESCB has told [us] not to worry about it, and that it will be taken care of,” Hinckley said. “But the question I have is, who’s going to take care of the system if something happens?”
David O’Brien, a technician with FairPoint, said he’s one of about 48 union members trained on the system. There are very capable managers with knowledge of the system, O’Brien said, but only two of them. Getting to 26 PSAPs across a 300-mile range could pose a challenge, he said.
As of Friday, replacement workers hadn’t crossed picket lines at FairPoint locations in Portland or Bangor.
What about FairPoint’s other services? Does your Internet service stink? The state can’t help you there. Broadband’s not regulated in Maine, which leaves matters of service quality to the free market (if you have more than one choice).
A portion of its landline service is regulated, however, and the company faces financial penalties if it doesn’t meet quality standards. It’s judged on the amount of outages, response time to calls and other metrics over the quarter or year.
The PUC also in August ramped up quality standards for about 29,000 of FairPoint’s provider-of-last-resort customers.
But I’m not even a FairPoint customer. Well, that might not mean you can wipe your hands of any of the company’s service problems. Whether it’s data coming to your computer through a cable or to your phone over the air, there’s a good chance it traveled over FairPoint’s network somewhere along the way.
The company’s mostly fiber-optic cable network provides a lot of what’s called backhaul service to other entities, including cellphone companies.
Welch said FairPoint does provide services that reach beyond its own retail customers, “But I’m not sure what conclusions you can draw from that,” he said. That market isn’t regulated, so data’s scarce on FairPoint’s market share in an area Welch said “is pretty competitive.”
The complaint department. So, if you have problems with FairPoint service and wonder where to report them, they’ve set up two special lines. The company said early Friday that residential customers who need assistance can call 1-866-984-2001. Business customers can call 1-866-984-3001.
To submit complaints regarding landline service to the PUC (reminder: they don’t regulate Internet or broadband service), their consumer assistance hotline is at 1-800-452-4699 and you can also submit complaints online.
BDN staff writer Beth Brogan contributed to this report.