University of Virginia Library

Public Disservice

Reprinted from the Virginia Law Weekly

Wisconsin Governor Warren P. Knowles,
in a full page advertisement in the Wall
Street Journal, praised the independent telephone
companies in his state for contributing
significantly to Wisconsin's progress. It
started us thinking what we might say about
Virginia Telephone & Telegraph Co.'s service,
were we able to comment on it in
the same fashion.

When it takes half an hour just to reach
the local operator, words come easily to
mind. When we find ourselves unable to
complete an outgoing long distance call
within a three hour period, our invective
becomes quite imaginative.

The poor quality of Charlottesville's telephone
service is well known. It is inexcusable.
If a modern university cannot
communicate with the outside world except
on foot or by post, it simply cannot function.

We think that enough complaints have
been mace informally, through individual
grumblings, letters to the editor and even
editorials like this one. It is time for the
State Corporation Commission or some
similar body of state government to ask
officially why such poor service to the state
university and the surrounding community
is allowed to exist, and to demand action
to correct it.

Mr. E. L. McGrady, Commercial manager
of the Charlottesville office of Virginia
Telephone & Telegraph Co., has stated
that these service problems result to some
extent from equipment shortages due to
government preemption of orders for new
equipment. This may or may not be the
significant reason for the poor service. If
it is, then perhaps an agency of the state
government can investigate the reasons the
telephone company is not getting equipment
it has so desperately needed.

After all, the telephone system is a vital
public utility, and often handles matters
literally of life and death. The Commonwealth
would seem to have an interest
in promoting its efficient operation. Telephone
subscribers, particularly in the University
community, have the to know
why their service is consistently so poor
and what steps are necessary to improve it.