Long story. My landline went out on Tuesday. I waited a day to see if they would fix it, then on Wed. morning I set up an appointment for service on Thu. I got a text saying that they would be here on Thu. between 8AM and 5PM. And that they needed someone over 18 to be here.
Well, there's only me here, so I guess I'm it. so, yesterday I waited all day for someone to show up. Nothing. At about 4:45PM I went on their website to see if someone was coming. There it told me that someone would be here for a scheduled appointment at 7:01PM.
At 7:00 I went back on the website and it told me that help was coming and they would be there on Thu. between 8 and 5. You know, in the past. Of course, by 7 the repair/service people had all gone home and their website just kept telling me that they would be here 4/11/24 between 8 and 5.
Later last night I found that it said the appointment was "missed". No foolin', Scooter? I couldn't have quessed. This morning when I tried to call and reach a person, they say there's a damaged cable in my area, and they plan on it being fixed on Mon. by 8 PM. This is the first I've heard of an outage. Meanwhile, nobody called, texted, emailed or even sent a carrier pigeon to tell me the appointment was cancelled or "missed".
I finally got to talk to a human, who had an incredibly thick Indian accent and couldn't understand me unless I spoke very exaggertedly slow. Like talking to a child. Her basic response was, "Sorry to hear that. There's nothing I can do until the cable is fixed." And that's that.
So, I get to wait until they fix the cable, which if it's been out since Tue. would make it a week to fix it. Seems excessive. If it hasn't been out since Tue. my phone is still broken and needs repair. Won't know until 8PM on mon. Then I get to set up an appointment to have my phone fixed. That would probably be Wed. at the earliest, making over a week without phone service.
So, to make a long story short, I didn't get my phone fixed, I spent a whole day sitting here waiting for an appointment that never happened, losing a whole day in the process. I can't set up a repair until the cable's fixed, and there's no guarantee they will keep that appointment.
What really pisses me off is that nobody communicated any of this to me. Nobody said, "There's an outage in your area, we'll have to fix that before we can check on your stuff." Also, who ever heard of an appointment at 7:01? I think 7 is quitting time and someone, knowing that they weren't gonna be able to get here, changed it to one minute after quitting time, instead of calling me.
I'm angry. Very angry. Thanks for letting me vent.

TL,DR: Phone company sucks.

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The best I can with what I got

Well, that stinks.

But I gotta ask - why do you have a landline? Is it for an alarm or something? Just curious.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Come and experaince life post Hurricane


No phone (land)
No Phone (cell)
No cable TV
No Internet
No electric
No water
No gas


etc etc, for weeks and weeks


Then we get cell service, call the providers above "There is an outage in your area"


Ditch your land line!

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Still Running Against the Wind

Backup in case the cell goes down.

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The best I can with what I got

Wife & I have cell phones and we also have a land line. One thing, up where I'm at in Pittsburgh the cell service is almost nil, and more than one carrier. I our internet is also from Verizon. We're at one the highest elevations in the city, but just a dead area. At least I can get antenna TV on the stations DISH doesn't provide anymore.

I have a cell phone in case my real phone goes down. Seldom use the cell phone.

Sir, ya ever tried to use a cell phone when the power is out? I still maintain pay to have a landline, it's peace of mind. Over the last 25+years it has worked "each time & every time" I've had to use it.

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Always Stay Strong!

I'd bet dollars to donuts that the damaged cable is the reason your landline isn't working. They should have informed you up front, but they probably didn't realize there was a damaged cable until they made several other service calls.

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"I also cook."

After our house flooded in 2016 , we didn't bother to repair the landline wiring or boxes . Haven't missed it .

Haven't had a landline in 15 years. On the other hand, retirement income ain't flush but I'm probably (pre-tax) close to $30/ hr, 40 hrs/ week, 52 weeks a year. Make an appointment, I got plenty o'time. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

lihpster


I worked for AT&T, and then NY TEL for a number of years in my youth, doing everything from inside wire to repairing plant.

The people who answer the phone are there to get you off the phone, nothing else.


Don’t know where you live, ie rural, in an apt, home, etc. Copper wire is a thing of the past n most places.

Inside every/most homes is usually what they call a network interface, a box. It’s likely in your basement, the garage,or on the outside wall where those black wires run from the pole to your house.
That is where you check to see if the trouble in inside the house, rarely, or outside, more than likely.

Any neighbors having trouble? That would be a big clue.

Does your provider use fiber cable?

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Sure you did

In case we need to get out of the Matrix.

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Common sense isn't so common.

I keep telling my wife that we should just drop the land line.

Basically, it exists to receive phone calls that:

Want to know if we want to sell our home.

Inform us that we have won the lottery.

Ask us if we know our car warranty has expired.

Represent a variety of political doo-das that need our "contribution" or the world will end.

Have no one on the other end of the line - not even heavy breathing.

Hits us with the news that we should be aware that the South African sand fly may become extinct unless we send money now. And it's urgent. We should give them our credit card number, full name, expiration date, and verification code.

Make it obvious that English is not their primary language.


I no longer answer the land line. They can leave a message and then I will decide if it's important enough to return the call.


John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I sure have. I can charge it in the car.

I had a landline until about ten years ago. I remember several times when it was out of service.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

I’ve found with my trash haulers and a few other “services” not paying the bill gets their attention lol

We cut the land line about a year ago when my wife got a new wireless heart pacemaker. Her old pacemaker required using a landline for periodic condition monitoring. The new pacemaker has wireless monitoring. Our land line was up to about $80/month, we now pay somewhat less than that for both of our smartphones combined. And they do much more than the landline.

I've been having off and on problems with my land line. I can't get incoming calls, outgoing calls full of static and cut out. Its usually after a good rain and generally clears up after a couple of days.
My land line is my primary number. That's what almost everybody uses to contact me. So its important that it works.
Finally called the repair number. Somebody is supposed to come look at it by the end of next week.

I don't understand that question . Cell sites usually have generators . Your cell phone can be charged a dozen different ways . What's the difficulty ?

Almost 12 years ago I used a landline for my ICD telemetry transponder.

Our new home has no landline so Altafiber hooked me up with a wireless dongle for my Latitude transmitter. No hiccups.

BTW life sans cellphone falls under the eighth amendment.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Instead of wasting my energy on a negative emotion (anger), I’d be asking myself what I have learned from this experience. Then I’d act on that nugget of learning and be at peace because I was now in control instead of the phone company.

I bought my mom an iPhone about 12 yrs ago and was able to coordinate cancelling her landline and transferring the same number to her new cell phone

Got VOIP from the cable company to replace my POTS line. Saved 120 bucks a month and it's reliable.

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

Land lines aren't what they used to be. I have one that I use to talk to the Pakistani IRS agent who's on his way to arrest me if I don't give my credit card number. They used to be powered by generators at phone company switching stations. That's why they still ran when the power went out so long as the wire was not broken. Now the phone is plugged into an electrical outlet in my house. If the electricity goes out, there is a battery box that will power the phone for about an hour. After that, it's tin cans and string. I can't even begin to explain why I keep it because I really have no use for it. My cell phone, on the other hand, always works when the power is down. I just need to keep it charged which I can do with one of my vehicles if need be.

The OP's story is similar to mine with my ex-cable company.

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Release the Kraken

Most cell phone carriers have backup power (generators) at their sites. They know that when the power goes off, they have about 24-48 hours of battery before the radio gear goes dark. That’s where the generator takes over. Unfortunately, the generator has a limited amount of fuel. During Hurricane Katrina, the cell tower’s battery bank was depleted, the generators that weren’t under water ran out of fuel, and there were no diesel fuel trucks to replace the generator fuel.

My point is that cell phones are a temporary solution when the power goes off for extended periods of time. It’s a bigger problem than the battery in your phone. So, communication during a serious and prolonged emergency is not a given.

Where I am, the cell site generators are plumbed into the natural gas system so their fuel supply is pretty big. The ones that are in places without gas service are either diesel or propane powered. I believe they all are fuel flexible. Katrina was more about bad management of the infrastructure than bad hardware.

When hurricanes Frances and Jeanne used my house for target practice in 2004, my landline lasted 3-4 days afterwards until the backup batteries for AT&T died. The cell service failed when the first winds hit. I still have a landline.

Well, the phone is back up and working. How did I find out? Got a call on my cell phone from one of the techs working on the outage asking if it was working. Seems like the guys in the field are always better than the office staff. Even at customer service, which is what the office staff is for. No way to run a railroad, in my opinion.

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The best I can with what I got

The people who do the work are usually more invested in the people they help, and more aware of what is going on.

My wife and I have cell phones and no landline, and I have a cell for my consulting company for the future. All in one bill, works fine. I have to be able to be reached at any time for the office and for potential transplants. A landline would not be productive. I got called last night by a client with a relatively urgent question. It was sitting on the desk next to me with the Sirius going, plugged in and charging. ( I am not in the office during conventional hours due to my kidney treatment, but am available by phone and email while at home; I usually get to the office sometime around noon and work through lunch 'til 7 or so.) I can get by with this in part because I read fast and make decisions pretty quickly, plus no one else is interested in my duties.

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NHI, 10-8.

We dropped landline many years ago in favor of a VOIP (internet) "landline." Almost all home (and business) phones are VOIP these days rather than traditional wirelines. A few years ago I finally dropped the VOIP line after realizing all our friends and family called on the cellphones, and we only got scams and sales calls on the home phone.

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Or something like that . . .

I maintain a land line fax solely to satisfy a contract requirement. I actually use it about once per quarter and every year at least one of those times it will be out and take a week to fix. Costs me $750 per year. When I drop out of the contract at the end of this year it is history. Phone companies that have decided not to make new landline connections don't see much benefit in maintaining their existing customers. Telephone repair will soon join telegraph operator and lamplighter in the index of obsolete occupations.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

I will be dropping my land line in the very near future. Cable TV too.

Cell phone and streaming

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Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

“All circuits are busy”

Remember that? I wouldn’t count on land lines or cellphones during an emergency. So why have both?

I suppose that there could be exceptions but I can’t think of any. Haven’t had a land line for 15 years.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

You realize you're asking this question to someone who still has a "landline" right?

It seems kind of a luxury not to be too dependent on any sort of phone. It's pleasant when phones don't ring; it's no big disadvantage to be unreachable at times. I carry a cell phone sometimes but I'd certainly dislike always having one on my person or within easy reach.

I have an ICD, AFib and CHF. I am never without my cellphone. Especially while walking alone.

Besides, I wouldn't want to miss an update on TS and TK.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

January of ‘23 a tree fell at our club knocking down the phone and electric lines. Electric company had the electric line put back up in two hours. I called the phone company, Frontier, and had the following conversation:

Me: “Our phone line was knocked down and is laying across our driveway, we need it fixed”

Frontier Rep: (Indian accent) “Have you tried jiggling your phone connection to see if this resolves your problem?”

Me: “Ummm, no. Could I speak with a supervisor?”

After over twenty minutes Frontier says a crew will be there in two weeks. I take a day off work, they never show. Call and get told they had no record of a problem, but they’ll have a crew out in another two weeks. Again a no show. Then told they’ll be there in March.

A couple of us drag the line out of the drive and secure it to a tree so our members can use the club. March arrives and Frontier advises it could be a year before they can restore our phone service. We cancel our phone service, pay for a wireless alarm system and set up Google voicemail.

In August the state holds a public hearing about Frontier. The hearing goes on for several hours of angry customers, and right before it’s my turn to testify one of the other angry customers drops with a massive heart attack, ending the hearing. I tell my story to a Frontier engineer sent to the hearing to minimize the bad press. Three days later a crew arrives and cleans up the downed phone lines. Frontier may be the worst phone company in America, based on all the testimony I sat through.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

Not only do I have a landline, but the phone has this round thing on it.

Attached Images

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After Hurricane Ian in 2016 I bought a portable charger. It claims to charge a dead laptop, or 2 tablets, I've charged my cell for about 10 days with it. The cell still had half battery life when I was charging it. The instructions said to drain the charger a few times a year, so I'd plug my cell into it every night till the charger got down to one light.

I think it was around 50 or 60 bucks, and worth it's weight in gold if you ever need it.


It

I built this place some 30 odd years back for my retirement home. When I built the barn I found a rotary dial wall phone at a yard sale for a buck. Installed it in the barn. I get a kick out of the young folks that came by & ask how it works. Hell, when I worked for Ma Bell I still know how the use a crank phone, [Magneto]

Next thing you know, people will want to go back to party lines.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

Ours was MU2-4606. Two shorts and a long.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Do you use it for receiving crank calls?