Trouble on the Line for PacBell Internet E-Mail

Some Pacific Bell Internet customers reported trouble accessing their e-mail accounts last week. On Friday, the company acknowledged that a hardware error with a server caused intermittent delays in accessing e-mail Wednesday and Thursday. PacBell engineers wouldn’t say how the error occurred or how many customers were affected, according to company spokeswoman Danielle Matthews. In addition, a recorded message on PacBell Internet’s customer support line said an upgrade for its digital subscriber line service was causing some e-mail trouble.

But some customers said the problem was worse than the company admitted. One PacBell Internet customer in Los Angeles, John Griffith, said his e-mail was down for an entire week before service resumed on Friday. When he logged on, he said, he had 109 messages waiting for him.