JACKSON – Progress has been made in the ongoing effort by township officials to get Altice/Optimum to provide better cable and internet service for Jackson customers.
Numerous complaints by residents about difficulties they were experiencing in the last two years led the Township Council to make a complaint to the Board of Public Utilities in October. When the firm did not respond, a second complaint was made to the BPU two months later.
“We’ve recently completed additional network enhancements in Jackson Township, adding more capacity to support the increased data demands of our local customers, and we shared this update with the township business administrator last week,” Optimum public affairs representative Janet Meahan told The Jackson Times after being contacted for an update on the situation.
“We recognize the important role we play in keeping our customers connected, especially during the pandemic, and we’ll continue to work with our communities and customers to ensure we’re providing the service that our customers expect from us,” Meahan added.
Meahan said, “as always, if customers have questions or need assistance, they can contact us directly through our various online support channels or by phone.”
During a recent Township Council meeting Business Administrator Terence Wall provided a detailed overview on what had transpired between the township and service provider.
“We have had difficulties over the months and the governing body has not been tolerant of the substandard service and we’ve had outreach to the Board of Public Utilities and the company. We interacted with them and they have tried to increase some capacities with what they call nodes,” Wall said.
“Jackson Township is comprised of approximately 90 nodes which services customers, the download speed or highway as it were, they call it 10 lanes of download and two lanes to make an analogy of upload. That has over time been increased to 28 lanes, an increase of 18 lanes of download so people can get the data that their systems are calling for,” Wall added.
Wall said, “that went from 10 to 28 through working with the BPU and the company which has acknowledged the service deficits and the challenges during the pandemic in their system. They have a hybrid system. It is not all fiber. That is a project that they hopefully should be starting and getting to conclusion quickly.
“When a node is congested, they can split them. Previously they split two nodes and as of (February 5) they split three more. What does that mean? We won’t know unless we hear your feedback to let us know when you turn it on. Is it working or is it substandard? You have 90 nodes serving the community and they have maxed out the amount of improvements they can do with their current infrastructure. That is going from 10 download lanes to 28 and two upload lanes to six.” Wall said.
Wall also touched on the customer service that Jackson residents have received which he also said was “subpar in quarter one to quarter three. They decentralized it so instead of the call center program they decentralized it maximizing the use of telecommuting and people working off site of a central location.”
“They are seeing better metrics internally in quarter four and again, if the citizenry can reach out, let us know is it working, if it is still failing and what can be done better. They have seen improvements based on their customer service model by decentralizing it. Hopefully this offers some measure of improved service. My e-mail is twall@jacksontwpnj.net or any of the normal e-mails that you use to channel the administration,” Wall added.
The Business Administrator added that Altice would be responding to the township in writing with the details of their plan.
Council President Andrew Kern said that at one time the township had on its website a link for residents to complain about service. He asked if that could be restored. Wall said it would be restored.
“This way our residents can reach out right to our home page on the website and click the link there and if there are still problems with Optimum, we want to know so that we can hold them accountable further,” Kern said.
Wall said that the call with Optimum that he was part of included Marylynn Davis who is the regional affairs representative, their supervisors and also a system engineer. “Once we get that feedback, we can have a feedback loop with the company and then see where we currently stand and getting an eta on capital improvements as well.”
Council Vice President Martin Flemming commended Wall on his work regarding the issue.
