Telecom For Dummies

As in most industries, a problem found generally turns into a cover-up begun. An RFO, Reason for Outage, is a document that provides the official Word on the cause of a network issue that prevents your service from working. If your carrier’s switch sustains a direct lightening strike, preventing you from using your phone service for three days, it is acceptable to ask for an RFO.

 Remember  An RFO is a document that your carrier (rightfully) thinks may be used against it in a court of law. Because of this, you have a very good chance of receiving a document that is so watered down and vague that it has no real substance to it. Any RFO you receive will only tell you what you already know.

 Tip  Sound like a pro when you say to a representative at a carrier, “My boss is steamed that our T-1 was down for five days; can you get me some sort of an RFO so that he knows I was pushing to get the issue addressed and repaired?”