TOWANDA -- Bradford County commissioners say more people complain about their phone service than even taxes and potholes.
After one commissioner called Frontier Communication's service poor and unreliable, the company's general manager fired back with a "cease and desist" letter.
Commissioners say they are standing up for people in Bradford County who complain their phone and internet outages happen too often. Many believe this is not just an inconvenience but a threat to their safety.
Susan Moore is diabetic, and has a weak immune system.
"I've got a lot of health issues," she said.
She lives alone in Orwell, a rural community in Bradford County, where phone lines are owned and maintained by Frontier Communications.
She says her phone service doesn't work at least once a week.
In August, Susan says she was sick and in pain at 2 a.m. She pressed her lifeline button, which is hooked up to her phone and is supposed to call an ambulance.
Her phone service was out.
"Without the phone service, my Life Alert doesn't work," she explained. "That's when I decided, as much pain as I was in, I got in a car and drove 20 miles to get to a hospital."
People in Bradford County understand their cell phone service is spotty in this rural area. But those complaining about Frontier say it is their home landlines -- and their internet service hooked up to those landlines -- that frequently fail.
Seven doctors in Bradford County wrote commissioners to complain about Frontier's internet service.
One claimed he is, "unable to access information for hours being dropped while online. These flaws prevent me from giving the excellent care demanded of me."
When one county commissioner called Frontier's service poor, Commissioner Darryl Miller called it a public safety issue.
Frontier responded, warning commissioners to, "cease and desist" the criticism.
"We're simply looking for answers," said Commissioner Miller, adding that he thinks it's heavy-handed to use the words, "cease and desist."
"The whole intent behind that was to make sure that the misrepresentation of the facts would cease and desist," said Frontier Communications Vice President Elena Kilpatrick.
Kilpatrick says the company upgraded phone and internet service and fixed several problems reported by customers.
Some of the money for upgrades comes from a $2 million federal subsidy to improve internet service in Bradford County over the next six years.
"We have to make sure that we meet those commitments, otherwise there are penalties," Kilpatrick explained.
Despite the commitments, Susan Moore hopes commissioners keep the pressure on Frontier, and ignore the cease and desist letter.
Despite the cease and desist letter, representatives of Frontier and Bradford County commissioners say they want to work together to target problems and improve reliability.
Frontier says problems at Susan Moore's home appear to be fixed, with no phone outages at her home since mid-September.