POTSDAM -- Slic Network Solutions says it wants to help customers of a failed telephone service provider.

Slic, a local provider of telephone and high speed Internet services, says it has received several calls from NextGen customers who have received letters saying it is going out of business and they need to find a new provider for their phone service.

NextGen is a "reseller" of phone service. In a letter to the New York Public Service Commission, NextGen company officials said they were informed Dec. 22, 2010, that NextGen's underlying carrier will cease doing business with NextGen on or about Jan. 21, and as a result, NextGen awill no longer provide telecommunications services in New York.

NextGen's website says the Mt. Sinai firm has been providing discount phone service since 2000 to businesses in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.

One North Country business received a second letter saying that the termination date, originally set for the end of the month, is now bumped up to Jan. 11, leaving them very little time to find another solution.

"Businesses in Canton, Massena, Ogdensburg and Potsdam that received letters from NextGen maybe able to be served by our fiber optic network where we can provide them with both phone service and broadband Internet,” said Slic Sales Engineer Jeff Yette.

“For businesses that we can't reach with our fiber, we can offer temporary solutions by porting their numbers and redirecting them to a cell phone or other useable number until a long-term solution can be found," Yette said.

"We just want to prevent businesses from losing their telephone numbers and having to start from scratch with a new number from a new provider," he added.

NextGen business customers that have received termination letters can contact Yette by phone at 274-9022 or email at sales@slic.com.