Firm bypasses U S West

Mountain Solutions got its start in 1992, when Lynn Langford and her husband, Jeffrey Smith, launched the company in their basement.

In less than five years, the company has grown to 22 full-time employees and revenues of $1.2 million last year.
“We live in Bailey and recognized the limitations of telecommunications services to rural areas by the local exchange carriers like U S West,” Langford recalled.
Mountain Solutions began as strictly a voice-mail provider in the Bailey/Conifer area. At the time, there was no voice-mail service and limited paging.
Shortly after they founded the company, Smith and Langford recognized the ability of voice mail to provide call transfer.
“Calls go from one local exchange to another, creating a connection of two local calls that would otherwise be a long-distance call,” explains Langford.
Mountain Solutions currently offers a flat-rate calling plan that allows users to call into and out of the Denver area at local rates. They serve a portion of the Front Range from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, reaching as far west as Vail along the Interstate 70 corridor.
Mountain Solutions has raised the ire of U S West and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. U S West, which previously supplied service to most of Mountain Solutions’ customers, contends that the company is an “interexchange provider” and must pay access fees to U S West.
The PUC does not recognize Mountain Solutions as an “enhanced service” provider and maintains that the company is subject to PUC jurisdiction.
The PUC further maintains that Mountain Solutions is actually driving up the long-distance rates of those who use traditional long distance carriers by siphoning off customers.
Mountain Solutions has recently received an order from the Denver District Court granting an appeal of its case to the Colorado Supreme Court.
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