Adelphia acknowledges cable modem problems, says service is restored

Conversion to improved system begins next week in North Conway; local Internet support no longer available

Frustrated Adelphia cable modem customers should notice an improvement in their Internet connections today. That's the message from Dick Fairbanks, general manager of Adelphia in Redstone. Customers have spent the past week suffering through a wide range of problems, but Adelphia says everything is back on track."It's the old Internet problem," Fairbanks said yesterday afternoon. "As most of our dial-up subscribers know we eliminated that service at midnight (May 1). Since word got around about the service being eliminated we've had a surge in cable modem subscriptions and it's resulted in some problems. I think we've been able to solve them and things should be back to normal."Fairbanks said people experienced slow connections or were having problems getting an IP number necessary for their computers to connect to the Internet. One Conway resident, who declined to have his name published, could not say a good word about Adelphia yesterday. "They're being socially irresponsible," he said. "I've tried to file a complaint and been hung up on twice. I don't think they have any idea what they're doing down there."Adelphia no longer offers local customer service for Internet subscribers. The toll-free number for technical support is 866-305-7095."It's been something that's gone on for a few days, maybe a week," Fairbanks said of the problems. "We apologize to our customers and are sorry if anyone had difficulties... We have just been overwhelmed. Some of the gear we have in place, but we just couldn't keep up."Cable modem service is being upgraded, Fairbanks said. "Next week we'll start in North Conway and we'll be going door-to-door, neighborhood-to-neighborhood to convert people to our new systems, which will be much quicker, much more stable and much more reliable. I wish I could give you an exact street-by-street, but I can't at this time. I think once people have it and see it operate, they'll be tickled pink."Fairbanks said Adelphia hopes to have the entire network (Albany, Eaton, Madison, Bartlett, Jackson and Conway) on the new system by the end of this year. "As we move people from the old to the new system it should lessen the burden (on the old system)," he said. "People should start seeing some positives almost immediately."