Dear Source,
It is time for Innovative Telephone to fix their switching equipment. It often takes several attempts to dial out from many, many phones on these islands. I'm sure nearly everyone has heard: "Your special feature code has been entered incorrectly" and "All circuits are busy now; please hang up and try again later."
I'm willing to bet that there is something in Federal Communications Commission and licensing regulations that prohibits this ongoing problem, or at least requires it be rectified quickly. This morning I tried dialing several numbers repeatedly over a period of hours. Same recordings. The same thing happens frequently from my home phone and other phones I've used on the islands. It is not the phones themselves that are the problem. I know of a number of other people that have the same problem.
You'd expect that once in a while cell phone access might be limited due to volume of calls, but not landlines. I contacted Innovative about the problem several weeks ago, and the lady I talked to admitted that it happens frequently on her home phone as well. Simply accepting the problem is hogwash. Today they even tried to tell me I was hitting the "star" key accidentally when I dialed. Further hogwash. What if someone has a medical or other emergency?
What is the likelihood of getting this fixed without federal FCC intervention? Why should we pay for phone "service" that requires multiple dialing attempts on a regular basis, wasting time and money and possibly putting someone at risk in an emergency? Fix it, Innovative, and fix it soon, or my next call will be via AT&T 800 number (which always works) to the FCC in Washington D.C.
Kevin Weatherbee
St. Thomas
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