Dallas – Businesses south of Dallas say they are losing revenue every day due to unresolved phone and internet outages.
AT&T service in their neighborhood hasn't worked since Christmas Day, which they believe is indicative of the systemic inequities that have long plagued this part of Dallas.
“We are an integral part of the community,” said Fred Conwright, co-owner of Two Podner's Restaurant. “Those of us who have to go through all the routes to get someone to fix us deserve that much more respect.”
Two Podners has been serving barbecued and fried catfish for over 40 years. Landline phone service is essential to your business.
“Our phones are ringing all the time and we're getting calls from people wanting to know where we are and what we have to offer,” Conwright said. “We will be hurting without them.”
Conwright said he was too busy coming up with a solution to getting the registers up and running and accepting credit card payments to even begin calculating the lost revenue.
“We had to do only cash payments for three to four days until we found out we could get a hotspot to help us run our cash registers,” he said.
AT&T's outage is also hurting other businesses in this area south of Dallas.
“We're easily talking about potentially six-figure losses within a few weeks,” said Mark Walker, co-owner of Walker Auto Body and Frame Shop.
This is usually one of his busiest times of the year.
“We are ready to accept new charges,” Walker said. “The insurance company calls my phone to schedule an appointment for a new customer, and if they can't reach me, they call the next repair shop.”
He is frustrated with how long it takes for obstacles to be resolved.
“If we were in another part of town outside of the south part of Dallas, a little further north, worst-case scenario, we would only have internet and phone service for two days at most,” Walker said. Ta. “It makes me feel terrible. I feel like we're being treated unfairly, not only by the residents of the South Dallas area, but also by the business owners. We operate the same services that everyone else deserves and deserve.” is.”
Conwright argues that such fights should not be used to draw attention to the issue.
“We think we need to improve the infrastructure in this area,” he said.
AT&T did not tell CBS News Texas the exact number of residents and businesses affected by power outages in this area of Dallas.
The company issued the following statement: ”We are working to restore phone and internet service to homes in the south Dallas area disrupted by recent copper thefts as quickly as possible. We are working with city leaders and local law enforcement to conduct an investigation to find those responsible.
The suggestion that location or demographics have an impact on the restoration of service to customers is false. We deal with all power outages urgently and as soon as possible. There was damage to multiple equipment in multiple locations and we are working around the clock to restore service to our customers. ”
AT&T did not provide an estimate of when service would be restored, but said, “A two- to three-week timeline is not accurate. We are actively working on repairs and some affected customers are We have already resumed service,” he added.
caroline vandergriff
