A growing number of telephone consumers in rural areas across the nation are experiencing problems with long distance calls not being completed or suffering from a range of call quality issues. Sometimes the phone on the receiving end rings but the caller’s voice cannot be heard once the phone is answered. Sometimes the voice quality is so poor the call is not productive. There are also reported problems with receiving faxed documents and difficulties with debit and credit transactions at the point of sale. The problem occurs on calls originated using a variety of telephone technologies including landline, wireless and Internet voice services.

These problems are very frustrating for consumers who may not receive calls from family and friends and costly for businesses missing calls from customers or suppliers. Naturally telephone subscribers turn to their local telephone company for a resolution. These particular calling problems, however, originate outside of the Tremolo Communications local telephone network, and therefore cannot be “fixed” by Tremolo Communications. The problem calls, which move from one company’s network to a second and often a third and fourth network, often do not even reach the Tremolo Communications network.

For more information visit

http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/problems-long-distance-or-wireless-calling-rural-areas

If someone is attempting to call you experiences call completion problems, it is helpful to gather as many details as possible including:

• The time the call was placed.
• The phone number from which the call originated.
• The name of the caller’s long distance or wireless provider.
• Details about what, if anything, occurred on the receiving end of the call.

What you can do:

Report the problem. As a consumer, your best action is to report each “call completion” incident. For incoming call problems, talk to the party originating the calls and encourage them to report it. On the other hand, if you have had problems with outgoing calls, please contact us, 218-763-3000, with the details outlined above. We will then work to find out why this call failed and try to correct the problem.

Tremolo Communications encourages customers experiencing call completion problems to also file a complaint directly with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) at http://www.fcc.gov/complaints.