Frontier pitches dedicated countywide internet, DIA and VoIP proposal to Morgan County

Frontier Communications presented a draft countywide network plan to the Morgan County Commission and proposed dedicated Internet access, voice-over-IP, and managed network services to unify county internet and phone services.

Jared Kellen Phillips, Frontier account lead (identified in the presentation), said Frontier has a substantial fiber footprint in West Virginia and proposed enterprise-grade, symmetrical bandwidth with service-level agreements, a four-hour mean time to repair and included DDoS protection. Phillips told commissioners the county’s courthouse and sheriff’s office were proposed core sites; the sheriff’s office was proposed for a 1-gigabit dedicated circuit.

Why it matters: County staff described a patchwork of shared and dedicated circuits across offices, causing uneven bandwidth and high administrative overhead. Frontier said dedicated circuits (DIA) provide guaranteed capacity and contractual uptime that shared business services do not. Phillips said the county’s current arrangements include a mix of providers (Comcast, Shentel, etc.) and that consolidation could reduce bills and simplify management.

Discussion and technical points: Commissioners and staff asked about existing Shentel service, back-up arrangements for 911 and failover to cellular. Frontier explained a managed solution using Cisco Meraki routers that automatically fail over to dual-SIM cellular (AT&T and Verizon) during fiber outages, with data-use policies during outages. Frontier also discussed POTS Connect devices to convert copper lines for legacy services such as elevator phone circuits and said cellular and 5G options could be part of future failover, noting limitations and coverage tradeoffs.

Pricing and contracting: Frontier said it tailored discounts for the county: for example, a 500 Mbps DIA circuit discounted from $890 to $595 and a 1 Gbps circuit discounted to $900 (figures provided in the presentation). Frontier proposed VoIP seats at $9.99 per seat with free handsets under the introductory offer. Commissioners said the county would likely run an RFP to compare providers and phases of transition.

Next steps and procurement: Commissioners signaled interest in consolidating services but emphasized due process. One commissioner suggested issuing an RFP for a phased migration and noted that installation could be scheduled during low-use times to minimize downtime. Frontier representatives said they would provide contracts, a list of comparable county customers, and answers about certain wholesale relationships (for example, WVNET) after the meeting.

Attribution note: Presentation identified Jared Kellen Phillips (Frontier sales), Adolfo Torres (sales manager), and a Frontier sales engineer, and included remarks from county staff and commissioners. The commission did not take an immediate procurement vote; staff indicated a future RFP or phased procurement would be considered.