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Alltel Blocked Some Calls To Jobless Hot Line

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Alltel was stopping the calls to busy hot lines as a cost-saving measure, but the problem has been corrected, officials said.

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The Associated Press

Published: March 9, 2009

Updated: 03/09/2009 04:39 pm

TALLAHASSEE - At least one cell phone company blocked some calls to Florida's toll-free unemployment compensation hot line because the line is frequently busy, but the problem has been corrected, state officials said Monday.

Officials are trying to find out whether other cellular companies have been doing the same thing. They urged jobless workers to use land lines if possible to call the Agency for Workforce Innovation's toll-free number, 1-800-204-2418.

Officials last week discovered Alltel, recently acquired by Verizon, had been blocking cell phone calls to often-busy hot lines apparently as a cost-cutting measure, but the number was unblocked Friday, agency spokesman Robby Cunningham said.

It costs money for a cell phone company to link to a toll-free line.

"There have been no rules or laws broken, but certainly it's not acceptable to us," Cunningham said. "We want our customers to be able to reach us every time they call us. We're not certain how many customers were not able to reach us, but we're certainly very concerned that some of our customers were not able to get into the system."

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said some constituents have complained about getting a busy signal or being disconnected when they call the hot line.

"The biggest concern that I have is that people ... who are legitimately due unemployment compensation have not even been able to apply for it or at least contact a person who can assist them in applying for it, and they're not getting any income," Fasano said.

A Verizon spokesman said he was looking into the situation and did not have an immediate comment.

Greg Prescott, deputy director of communication and information technology services for the state Department of Management Services, outlined the problem in an e-mail to Workforce Innovation obtained through a public records request. He praised Workforce Innovation and Alltel staff members for identifying and fixing the problem.

"From my informal communication with some technical folks, it seems this practice of holding calls for short periods of time is an accepted practice," Prescott wrote.

It's a way to hold down expenses because cell phone carriers face multiple fees when linking to toll-free numbers.

"It's a mathematical nightmare to crunch all the numbers," Prescott wrote.

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