12 Days No Phone

A frustrated Johnson Road man is staging a protest against Verizon. Necmet Morgul of Johnson Road saw his street devastated by last week’s storm. Cars and homes were crushed, 5 trees fell across the road and it appeared as if the street had it’s own private tornado.

Six days following the storm, Con Ed had repaired power lines and that same night the cable came back. Morgul credits village crews with clearing debris quickly to allow the repairs to take place. However, now 12 days after the storm, he still has no phone or internet service to his home. As he works out of his home he has been unable to communicate with customers and says that his children need the internet to do their work. Though several Verizon trucks are visible on the street, according to Morgul, little seems to be happening. As a result, Mr. Morgul has been sitting outside at the corner of Johnson Road and Boulevard with a sign that registers his dismay.

He has received three text messages from Verizon answering his pleas. Last Sunday they reported the problem was resolved (though it clearly was not), on Monday they told him they were still working on it and Wednesday they told him that crews had been dispatched to his street. For a communications company, Morgul doesn’t think Verizon is doing a very good job communicating!

The Verizon workers on the street have a plausible explanation for the delay. They explained that in situations where power lines are down Verizon is the last team to get access to the lines. First live wires must be cleared, and then trees removed. Following this work Con Edison can restore the power and cable lines can be repaired. On Johnson Road they need to fully replace all Verizon lines and they hope to have phone service restored by the weekend. The crew that is now on the street has travelled here from Poughkeepsie and is surveying the site to assess what needs to be done. Why was no one here earlier? They shrugged their shoulders in response and said that many are without service in Westchester and they are doing the best they can.