During Government Shutdown, Telecom Providers Will Cut Federal Employees a Break

Several telecom service providers will give federal employees a break during the government shutdown (see 1901080004), they said. AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Windstream indicated in their responses to our survey and in announcements they won't disconnect such customers during the partial shuttering. It's "Frontier’s usual business practice to develop payment plans with qualified customers to keep their service uninterrupted," said a representative. Sprint care reps "will coordinate with qualified customers and our financial team to find a payment option that works and keep your service uninterrupted during the government shutdown," said CEO Michel Combes Tuesday. "T-Mobile is providing account support to customers directly affected by the U.S. government shutdown to ensure their wireless service remains available during the closure," the carrier said Saturday in a statement. That applies to government-account customers, said the carrier that's buying Sprint. "Verizon is standing by to help with flexible payment options to keep your service running," Nancy Clark, senior vice president-customer service, said Monday. Its offer is for wireline and wireless customers, said a spokesperson Wednesday. "Just because the government shutdown [sic], doesn’t mean that your phone, TV, and internet should stop working too," said AT&T Wednesday. "As long as the shutdown is in effect, our customer service team will waive late fees, provide extensions, and coordinate with you on revised payment schedules." CenturyLink "has always worked with customers having difficulty paying their bills so there is no need to offer special payment solutions for those impacted by the government shutdown," a rep said. Windstream's "normal process is to work with customers facing financial hardship to avoid any interruption of service for nonpayment," said a spokesperson. He noted its provisions in this situation are similar to Sprint's. Cox Communications "will work with individual customers on a case by case basis as always," emailed a spokesperson Wednesday. He and some other companies wouldn't say if they're committing to keeping service going for all federal employees and/or agencies during the government's shuttering or be more specific about their plans. Comcast has "mechanisms" to "work with all customers" on such issues, a rep said. Altice and Charter Communications didn't comment.