Dueling dial tones

A telecommunications installer has filed a class-action suit against the largest Bell telephone competitor in the Northeast, claiming Connecticut customers are suffering from shoddy service.

One Communications Corp., which has 160,000 customers in 16 states dominated by AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., is being sued by Granite Communications Inc., a North Haven company that installs telecommunications gear at businesses throughout the state, including Fairfield County.

Granite accuses One Communications of ignoring complaints in order to maximize its profits, an alleged violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.

One Communications did not immediately file a response in court, and at deadline a One Communications spokesman had yet to respond to a request for comment.

Granite is asking a judge to certify class-action status on the suit, which would allow other plaintiffs to seek damages. Granite is seeking damages in excess of $5 million on behalf of future co-plaintiffs in a class action.

In its lawsuit, Granite claims there are at least hundreds of clients who have been similarly stymied by One Communications; according to the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, however, just 15 customers filed complaints against One Communications last year.

A Granite receptionist referred questions to Granite”™s attorney James Miller in the Chester office of Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah L.L.C., who declined to say how Granite arrived at its number.

One Communications was formed last year from the triple merger of Choice One Communications, CTC Communications and Conversent Communications. The company lists dual headquarters in Waltham, Mass., and Rochester, N.Y.; and has Connecticut sales offices in Hamden, North Haven and Rocky Hill.

In its most-recent annual report on file with the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, Choice One reported $4.9 million in Connecticut revenue in 2006 from 2,900 Connecticut customers, many of them small- and mid-sized businesses, who used nearly 13,000 subscriber lines.

Customer information for Conversent and CTC was blacked out in those companies”™ 2006 annual reports to state regulators, though Conversent reported having 13,300 customers in a separate document. In 2005, Conversent had $15.2 million in Connecticut revenue, while CTC had $8.3 million in sales to 10,900 customers.

SBC had 1.8 million customers in Connecticut in 2006, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, who filed 300 complaints against its Southern New England Telephone affiliate.

Granite”™s suit stems from an alleged installation last November, when it says it recommended an unspecified customer install a big-bandwidth T-1 telecommunications connection from One Communications.

From day one, calls were dropped or sent astray over the circuit, Granite claims. One Communications initially stated its circuit was not to blame, Granite adds, only admitting responsibility after Granite had replaced most of the equipment in an attempt to get the system running properly.

One Communications continued to drag its feet in getting the various systems up to speed, Granite claims; at that point, the “understandably incensed” customer had already threatened a lawsuit against Granite as the dropped calls mounted. Granite complianed that One Communications staff repeatedly left its own personnel on hold for 45 minutes or more.