Home Repair (alt.home.repair) For all homeowners and DIYers with many experienced tradesmen. Solve your toughest home fix-it problems.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
N8N N8N is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,192
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.

this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)

She said she was calling her state representative AGAIN to complain,
and that several neighbors were without service as well...

nate
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
dpb dpb is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 12,595
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

N8N wrote:
....
...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable. Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?

I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area, meself...

--
  #3   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 570
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

N8N wrote:

I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.

this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why don't more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)

She said she was calling her state representative AGAIN to complain,
and that several neighbors were without service as well...

nate


Does she have Verizon FiOS service? If so she may have a problem with
the ONT (Optical Network Terminal) attached to her house. It requires
constant power and may be plugged into a switched outlet. Once her
service has been set up and verified operational the chances of having
a phone problem in the network is slim unless there are group outages.

  #4   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 22,192
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 11:13:19 -0700 (PDT), N8N
wrote:

I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.

this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)

She said she was calling her state representative AGAIN to complain,
and that several neighbors were without service as well...

nate


This guy visited the CEO's home.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFdO9x8bjmg

  #5   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 696
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:54:51 -0700, Oren wrote Re
for those of you who say land lines are reliable:

This guy visited the CEO's home.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFdO9x8bjmg


Good one!
--
I filter all messages from google groups.


  #6   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
tom tom is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable


"N8N" wrote in message
...
I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.

this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)


My AT&T Pots line has been as reliable as government taxation for the last
20 years.

  #7   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,143
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

N8N wrote:

I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.

this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)


Six or seven years ago on Long Island Verizon dug up one of their own
cables, which was not where their drawings said it was. Of course the
circuits were duplicated -- but the duplicates were in the same cable
bundle!

Perce
  #8   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 625
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 2:44*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 11:13:19 -0700 (PDT), N8N
wrote:
Does she have POTS service or the new broadband deal?


Dunno about him, but my folks have Verizon POTS service, and it goes
out about once a year. They call Verizon and they ALWAYS, without
fail, threaten my mother that if they find the problem inside the
house, that she will have to pay for the repairs. They don't inform,
they THREATEN.
  #9   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
N8N N8N is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,192
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 2:30*pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:

...

...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.

*Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?


yes.

I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area, meself...


the only reason they still have it is that satellite would be their
only other way of 'net connectivity.

nate
  #10   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
N8N N8N is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,192
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 2:44*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 11:13:19 -0700 (PDT), N8N
wrote:

I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.


this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. *I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. *Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)


She said she was calling her state representative AGAIN to complain,
and that several neighbors were without service as well...


nate


Does she have POTS service or the new broadband deal?


POTS. There is no "new broadband deal" in their area.


My Embarq/Sprint/United Telephone service has NEVER been down in 25
years except for an hour or two when they were switching over the
overhead wires to underground fiber backbone with underground feeds to
the homes.


You're lucky. My own experiences with Verizon (in two different
states, and nowhere near where my parents live) were equally ****ty.

nate


  #11   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
N8N N8N is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,192
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 4:10*pm, wrote:
On Aug 5, 2:44*pm, wrote:

On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 11:13:19 -0700 (PDT), N8N
wrote:
Does she have POTS service or the new broadband deal?


Dunno about him, but my folks have Verizon POTS service, and it goes
out about once a year. They call Verizon and they ALWAYS, without
fail, threaten my mother that if they find the problem inside the
house, that she will have to pay for the repairs. They don't inform,
they THREATEN.


make them put in one of those grey demarc boxes where the wire enters
the house, that way they can say with 100% certainty that the failure
is Not Their Problem by simply plugging a hard wired phone into the
demarc with the line going into the house disconnected.

nate
  #12   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,422
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 2:13*pm, N8N wrote:
I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.

this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. *I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. *Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)

She said she was calling her state representative AGAIN to complain,
and that several neighbors were without service as well...

nate


I've been owned, sold and bought again by AT&T a couple of times in
the last 30 years.
It's always been reliable (except, e.g., when a backhoe ran over the
box in the front yard.) I think we're forced to conclude that it's
Verizon that's ****ty.

When the power in the East went out in 2003, our land line performed
like a champ. Cell phones were useless, not just because they
couldn't be charged,
but also because they were swamped by people using them who only had
cordless
phones at home. They'll pry my 2-pound (I really should weigh it)
Western Electric
desk phone out of my cold, dead hands. (They'll have to shoot me
first, because
it's an effective bludgeon.)

Cindy Hamilton
  #13   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 91
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable


"N8N" wrote in message
...
On Aug 5, 4:10 pm, wrote:
On Aug 5, 2:44 pm, wrote:

On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 11:13:19 -0700 (PDT), N8N
wrote:
Does she have POTS service or the new broadband deal?


Dunno about him, but my folks have Verizon POTS service, and it goes
out about once a year. They call Verizon and they ALWAYS, without
fail, threaten my mother that if they find the problem inside the
house, that she will have to pay for the repairs. They don't inform,
they THREATEN.


make them put in one of those grey demarc boxes where the wire enters
the house, that way they can say with 100% certainty that the failure
is Not Their Problem by simply plugging a hard wired phone into the
demarc with the line going into the house disconnected.


Make sure you understand who owns the box. I had an phone line problem that
turned out to have been caused by a bad connection in the box. The phone
company said their lines were fine, and it was my problem. The box is
theirs, but the guy testing the lines was not experienced or knowledgable
enough to test the box itself. I ended up having to fix the phone companys
problem to get my phones to work right.


  #14   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 91
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable


"N8N" wrote in message
...
On Aug 5, 2:30 pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:

...

...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


She is a very small miniority. My phone line has only had problems once in
the last 20 years. My internet connection can't go a week without
experiencing outages. And cable? I've had cable in many homes and buildings
and I've never once found it to be reliable enough that I would trust my
telephone service to it.

YMMV...


  #15   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 487
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

Yeah, right. Most people's land lines go down once a decade, if
that. How do cell phones stack up?

I'm lucky if I only have one dropped word per sentence when talking to
some idiot with a cell phone. Hate 'em. (Cell phones, not the
idiots).


--
Please report all anti-Marxist speech to


  #16   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 618
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

"N8N" wrote in message
...

She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


Land lines are reliable because they are powered by the
nearest relay station, not the household electric supply,
thus function OK during local power outages. Of course
they are wholly reliable only with a wired connection.
Cordless phones fail during local outages (because
they need household current to maintain the base
station.) The OP did not say whether the mother uses
a reliable wired phone or a vulnerable cordless phone.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)


  #18   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,907
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:
...
...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable. Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?


And more importantly did she pick a cell carrier that actually has lots
of battery and also generators on most all of their equipment?

I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area, meself...

--

  #19   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

Don Phillipson wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
...

She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


Land lines are reliable because they are powered by the
nearest relay station, not the household electric supply,
thus function OK during local power outages. Of course
they are wholly reliable only with a wired connection.
Cordless phones fail during local outages (because
they need household current to maintain the base
station.) The OP did not say whether the mother uses
a reliable wired phone or a vulnerable cordless phone.


Both, so there are wired phones in the house. They're not idiots
either, they know enough to t'shoot a house problem vs. telco problem.
It used to be only a couple times a year that it'd go down but it is
becoming more and more frequent as time goes by.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel
  #20   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

Zootal wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
...
On Aug 5, 2:30 pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:

...

...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)

Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


She is a very small miniority. My phone line has only had problems once in
the last 20 years. My internet connection can't go a week without
experiencing outages. And cable? I've had cable in many homes and buildings
and I've never once found it to be reliable enough that I would trust my
telephone service to it.

YMMV...


I have Cox cable and internet and if the power is on, the cable is on.
In fact it's more reliable than the power. I've successfully been
online while the power has been out (laptop; cable modem on UPS)

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel


  #21   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 6:40*pm, Nate Nagel wrote:
Zootal wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
....
On Aug 5, 2:30 pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:


...


...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)
Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! *She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. *Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


She is a very small miniority. My phone line has only had problems once in
the last 20 years. My internet connection can't go a week without
experiencing outages. And cable? I've had cable in many homes and buildings
and I've never once found it to be reliable enough that I would trust my
telephone service to it.


YMMV...


I have Cox cable and internet and if the power is on, the cable is on.
In fact it's more reliable than the power. *I've successfully been
online while the power has been out (laptop; cable modem on UPS)

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.http://members.cox.net/njnagel




After many years with Verizon, I started having problems with them - I
was being charged for out of area calls that I hadn't made. They said
they could send someone out to check my line to see if it was crossed
with another line but if it was not - so that it wasn't their fault, I
would be charged a service charge. I switched to Bright House for
telephone. Already had Road Runner and TV.... Verizon has bad
customer service down here. Stories in the paper last year, said that
people were complaining to the state attorney's office about them.
  #22   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,417
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 4:19*pm, N8N wrote:
On Aug 5, 2:30*pm, dpb wrote:

N8N wrote:


...


...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! *She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. *Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.

*Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?


yes.

I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area, meself...


the only reason they still have it is that satellite would be their
only other way of 'net connectivity.

nate


Sounds like you live out in the boonies. Verizon doesnt own the lines
you are on but probably leases them from some mom and pop phone
company that is 30 years behind everyone else.

Jimmie
  #23   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,761
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

Nate Nagel wrote:
Zootal wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
...
On Aug 5, 2:30 pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:

...

...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)
Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


She is a very small miniority. My phone line has only had problems
once in the last 20 years. My internet connection can't go a week
without experiencing outages. And cable? I've had cable in many homes
and buildings and I've never once found it to be reliable enough that
I would trust my telephone service to it.

YMMV...


I have Cox cable and internet and if the power is on, the cable is on.
In fact it's more reliable than the power. I've successfully been
online while the power has been out (laptop; cable modem on UPS)

nate



Funny thing, a DSL signal can actually jump a tiny break in
a POTS line that would keep analog service from working. A
VOIP phone would work when the regular phone wouldn't. I've
seen it happen.

TDD
  #24   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 49
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 2:30*pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:

...

...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable. *Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?


It's called a car-charger. I bet she had one.


I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area, meself...

--


  #25   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 49
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 7:30*pm, JIMMIE wrote:
On Aug 5, 4:19*pm, N8N wrote:



On Aug 5, 2:30*pm, dpb wrote:


N8N wrote:


...


...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! *She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. *Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


*Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?


yes.


I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area, meself....


the only reason they still have it is that satellite would be their
only other way of 'net connectivity.


nate


Sounds like you live out in the boonies. Verizon doesnt own the lines
you are on but probably leases them from some mom and pop phone
company that is 30 years behind everyone else.

Jimmie


I sort of live in the boonies, about 200 yards off of the Rez, and we
had Verizon. You couldn't even call what they have "Customer
Service". It was horrid. The caused a DSL problem that took 2 weeks
to diagnose. At one point the tech was on my computer doing a ping
test and it came back that my modem was off. He called "the engineer"
who said to turn the modem on, duh. The techies said "but I just ran
the test using the modem". Once they realized it was a problem, they
said the ONLY solution was to discontinue my non-existent DSL (5 to 10
business days) and then re-order it (5 to 10 business days). That was
about lunchtime. But dinner time I had my cable modem up and running
and it hasn't been down since.

I have Vonage for my phone and faxage for my fax. During blackouts,
all cell towers around here have generators so that isn't a problem.
Good riddance to Verizon.


  #26   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 570
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

N8N, 8/5/2009,4:19:59 PM, wrote:

You're lucky. My own experiences with Verizon (in two different
states, and nowhere near where my parents live) were equally ****ty.


As a former Verizon FiOS employee who left on my own accord I can tell
you there will continue to be ****ty customer and technical service as
long as they treat their employees as they do now. Morale is so low
that no one wants to take accountability for any issues that require
more than 11 minutes to fix. That's right, once you finally get
through to the service center the call center representative must fix
your problem in 11 minutes or get you off the phone any way they can.
If somehow they can justify sending it to the network technician (Level
2) you better hope the first guy who picks up your trouble ticket
doesn't just drop it back in the bucket or it'll go through many hands
before someone decides to actually work on a difficult problem. God
forbid you may actually need a field technician to come out. You must
choose either 4-hour or 8-hour blocks of time for that service call.
You better be watching the front door also because many of the
servicemen will creep up to your door and lightly rap on it and then
leave a NO_SHOW tag.

Verizon thinks good pay and good benefits make up for bad employee
management and constant screaming of "GET THEM OFF THE PHONE!" Couple
that with the worthless tools and training provided to the employees
and you have a recipe for horrid service. As an employee and now
former employee I would not purchase their FiOS service only because I
know what happens behind the scenes when you have a problem. Their
Verizon Wireless service is a tad better and essentially carries the
company. The copper line service is on the way out and they are trying
to sell it to whomever will take it.


  #27   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,640
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable


"N8N" wrote in message
this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)


I've been a homeowner for 43 years in a couple of different states. I
honestly can't think of a singe time I did not have phone service, even in
severe storms when power was out. Cell reception, OTOH, is very spotty.

I don't doubt your mother's problems, but she is a very tiny minority. I'm
keeping my land line, and the DSL that is more reliable than my cable
service.


  #28   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,586
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

N8N wrote:
I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.

this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)

She said she was calling her state representative AGAIN to complain,
and that several neighbors were without service as well...

nate

Hi,
Of course land line is reliable. It is the problem of Verizon.
I have lived in this city since the spring of 1970. I don't recall any
time our phone was down. Had couple power failures which lasted like
couple minutes each time.
  #29   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,946
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

N8N wrote in
:

On Aug 5, 2:30*pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:

...

...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


Explain? OK.

99.95% of the time when I use my land line it works fine & clear.
99.95% of the time when I call someone on a land line it's fine & clear.
99.95% of the time when I use a land line it doesn't disconnect.
99.95% of the time when I call a land line they don't disconnect.
99.95% of the time when I call a cell phone it sucks.
Excuse me? What did you say? Are you still there. What was that? Huh?
99.95% of the time when a cell phone calls me I'm always saying
Excuse me? What did you say? Are you still there. What was that? Huh?

100% of the time a cell phone costs 4x that of a land line.
100% of the time land line local calls are not clocked.
100% of the time I don't need power company service to use the landline.
100% of the time I can call 911 on the cell I keep in the car that
has no service. That is if the ****ing thing gets a signal.

Explained.



*Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?


yes.

I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area,
meself...


the only reason they still have it is that satellite would be their
only other way of 'net connectivity.

nate


  #31   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 321
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 11:12*pm, PatM wrote:
On Aug 5, 2:30*pm, dpb wrote:

N8N wrote:


...


...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)


Because the land line _IS_ more reliable. *Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?


It's called a car-charger. *I bet she had one.





I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area, meself...


--- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -


Back in the BAD old days before COMPETITION when only one telephone
company was 'allowed' to operate in any one territory and land lines
were almost the only form of technology available land lines were the
ONLY RELIABLE means of phoning. Nowadays there are so many
alternatives and providers.

The one and only telephone company would 'apply' for rates to whatever
was the state/provincial or national authority that had given itself
the authority to REGULATE the phone system; but increases were not
always granted. There was great pressure on the telephone companies as
a result to provide reliable service throughout their total
territories.

An example: Some 55 years ago a hand crank magneto/battery telephone
on a multi party line in an outlying rural area, provided you could
get one, cost $1.67 per month. That included replacement phone
batteries (which lasted several years) and an annual telephone book
listing numbers. The manual switchboard service from an agent operator
in someone's home in the community was generally very good; in one
case a community was so satisfied that it petitioned to NOT have it's
agency service replaced by dial!

There were numerous MEASURERMENTS of the telephone system which
included 'Speed of Service' (Dial tone), 'Speed of Answer' (Operator
answer within ten seconds),'Held Orders' (Customers waiting for phone
service, and the reason!), 'Outages' (Phone service disrupted/
interrupted for more than 24 hours, and reason.), also priority was
given to 'Out of service' (Customers with broken service). And
overtime would often be granted to work to restore service if there
was anyone in a home sick/needing medical attention/disabled etc.).
Some of these were sent regularly to the regulatory authority, which
was often staffed by people familiar with the telephone industry and/
or familiar with the REGULATIONS under which the phone company
operated.

People often complained about the MONOPOLY that the telephone company
had and exercised. By the same token the telephone company and it's
employees were extremely conscious that they 'Were the only game in
town' and stories are legendary about how telephone line staff and
telephone operators would perform to maintain and restore service or
get emergency calls through.

These days it is very different; there are many companies competing
for the customer's dollar and a much wider range of services
available; many of which were, at least at first, considered more
trivial and therefore less essential than POTS (Plain Old Telephone
Service). Nowadays, texting, inter-net access even viewing movies via
a cell phone is considered normal/essential. There are many varieties
of cost packaging and companies spend a much greater amount of time on
selling/marketing etc. in order to get a share of the market.

Myself and members of my family have worked under both systems. The
older monopoly and the newer competitive one. The emphasis today is on
the bottom line. And customers are much more liable to be told "Well
if you will live in Little Bottom Cove 45 miles from downtown behind
two hills that block TV and cell phone signals (especially if
digital!) you can't expect the reliability and grade of service as in
an urban area! When there are more homes in your area, etc. etc. one
of the competing companies may find it is worth their while to service
your area more completely"!

This of course still doesn't take the onus off the providing company
to make reliable any service they are providing but the emphasis is
definitely different than in days of yore. And since many of the
alternatives depend on batteries (which have to recharged and/or
electrcity supply, in the name of economy not every small electronic
site has a backup generator, the newer-electronic technology modes are
INHERENTLY less reliable than the two bits of copper wire connected to
a switching unit (itself, these days, probably electronic!) in a
telephone exchange with large 8 to 24 hour reserve batteries and quite
possibly also a back-up automatic start generator.

We gets what we pay for. Eh?
  #32   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

Red Green wrote:
N8N wrote in
:

On Aug 5, 2:30 pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:

...

...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)
Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.

It never ****ing works! She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


Explain? OK.

99.95% of the time when I use my land line it works fine & clear.
99.95% of the time when I call someone on a land line it's fine & clear.
99.95% of the time when I use a land line it doesn't disconnect.
99.95% of the time when I call a land line they don't disconnect.
99.95% of the time when I call a cell phone it sucks.
Excuse me? What did you say? Are you still there. What was that? Huh?
99.95% of the time when a cell phone calls me I'm always saying
Excuse me? What did you say? Are you still there. What was that? Huh?

100% of the time a cell phone costs 4x that of a land line.
100% of the time land line local calls are not clocked.
100% of the time I don't need power company service to use the landline.
100% of the time I can call 911 on the cell I keep in the car that
has no service. That is if the ****ing thing gets a signal.

Explained.


Except your assertions are the exact opposite of my experience. Land
line has MORE down time and is MORE expensive than my cell phone!

Seriously, the last time I had "service" with Verizon it was approaching
25% down time (this was in MD) and my parents are rapidly approaching
that point.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel
  #33   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,907
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

Nate Nagel wrote:
Zootal wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
...
On Aug 5, 2:30 pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:

...

...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)
Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.


It never ****ing works! She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.


She is a very small miniority. My phone line has only had problems
once in the last 20 years. My internet connection can't go a week
without experiencing outages. And cable? I've had cable in many homes
and buildings and I've never once found it to be reliable enough that
I would trust my telephone service to it.

YMMV...


I have Cox cable and internet and if the power is on, the cable is on.
In fact it's more reliable than the power. I've successfully been
online while the power has been out (laptop; cable modem on UPS)

nate


Comcast here. If the electric goes down they do too. I know this because
they don't have battery in a lot of their remote equipment and saw it in
action one day when I was sitting here and the power went off. The UPS
kept everything up here but the cable modem instantly lost sync.
requested a primary line
  #34   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,907
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

PatM wrote:
On Aug 5, 7:30 pm, JIMMIE wrote:
On Aug 5, 4:19 pm, N8N wrote:



On Aug 5, 2:30 pm, dpb wrote:
N8N wrote:
...
...Verizon ...
... Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)
Because the land line _IS_ more reliable.
It never ****ing works! She called me on her cell phone to tell me
her land line wasn't working again. Now explain to me how the land
line is more reliable.
Does she have backup
generator to keep the cell charged during power outages, for example?
yes.
I'd never consider eliminating the land line in a rural area, meself...
the only reason they still have it is that satellite would be their
only other way of 'net connectivity.
nate

Sounds like you live out in the boonies. Verizon doesnt own the lines
you are on but probably leases them from some mom and pop phone
company that is 30 years behind everyone else.

Jimmie


I sort of live in the boonies, about 200 yards off of the Rez, and we
had Verizon. You couldn't even call what they have "Customer
Service". It was horrid. The caused a DSL problem that took 2 weeks
to diagnose. At one point the tech was on my computer doing a ping
test and it came back that my modem was off. He called "the engineer"
who said to turn the modem on, duh. The techies said "but I just ran
the test using the modem". Once they realized it was a problem, they
said the ONLY solution was to discontinue my non-existent DSL (5 to 10
business days) and then re-order it (5 to 10 business days). That was
about lunchtime. But dinner time I had my cable modem up and running
and it hasn't been down since.

I have Vonage for my phone and faxage for my fax. During blackouts,
all cell towers around here have generators so that isn't a problem.
Good riddance to Verizon.


You may want to verify that too. If you see a typical multi carrier cell
tower you will usually see one generator. It belongs to and is only used
by the one carrier that is anal about that kind of thing.
  #35   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,644
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

VERIZON FIOS is NOT reliable took them 2 MONTHS to get a network tech
to find a bad router at the central office which effected EVERY FIOS
customer in our area.

geez I HAD to call every day for 3 weeks and esclate to the verizon
presidents office. tried to cancel no sir we stand behind our crap
servioce with a contract with 300 buck cancel fee, doesnt matter if
your phone isnt reliable.......

note to verizon contract up in october, I am canceling them


the problem was finally fixed, but it shouldnt take 2 months when
every 12th incoming call is all noise


  #36   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,375
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

In article , N8N wrote:
I just got a call from my mom, to tell me yet again to not bother
trying to call on the land line, to call her cell instead if I need to
tell her anything.


Land lines *are* more reliable than cellular, and the signal quality is much
higher.

this is getting rediculous, Verizon


There's the problem, right there!
  #37   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
N8N N8N is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,192
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 5, 10:49*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. *I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. *Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)


I've been a homeowner for 43 years in a couple of different states. *I
honestly can't think of a singe time I did not have phone service, even in
severe storms when power was out. *Cell reception, OTOH, is very spotty..

I don't doubt your mother's problems, but she is a very tiny minority. *I'm
keeping my land line, and the DSL that is more reliable than my cable
service.


It just seems odd to me that she would be in a "minority" when I've
had the same problem in two different states. so that's at least
three states in my experience where you can't count on the phone co.

nate
  #38   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,907
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

N8N wrote:
On Aug 5, 10:49 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)

I've been a homeowner for 43 years in a couple of different states. I
honestly can't think of a singe time I did not have phone service, even in
severe storms when power was out. Cell reception, OTOH, is very spotty.

I don't doubt your mother's problems, but she is a very tiny minority. I'm
keeping my land line, and the DSL that is more reliable than my cable
service.


It just seems odd to me that she would be in a "minority" when I've
had the same problem in two different states. so that's at least
three states in my experience where you can't count on the phone co.

nate


Ed is referring to the idea of statistical sample size. Your
observations (because there are so few) are just statistical noise at
this point.
  #39   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
N8N N8N is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,192
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable

On Aug 6, 9:14*am, George wrote:
N8N wrote:
On Aug 5, 10:49 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. *I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. *Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? *(I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. *Otherwise...)
I've been a homeowner for 43 years in a couple of different states. *I
honestly can't think of a singe time I did not have phone service, even in
severe storms when power was out. *Cell reception, OTOH, is very spotty.


I don't doubt your mother's problems, but she is a very tiny minority. *I'm
keeping my land line, and the DSL that is more reliable than my cable
service.


It just seems odd to me that she would be in a "minority" when I've
had the same problem in two different states. *so that's at least
three states in my experience where you can't count on the phone co.


nate


Ed is referring to the idea of statistical sample size. Your
observations (because there are so few) are just statistical noise at
this point.


Then I must be colossally unlucky, having moved at least once a year
for a while and ALWAYS having problems with my POTS. (and usually
getting rude, indifferent service to boot.)

I didn't bother having it turned on the last time I moved and I
haven't yet missed it. Been there for almost three years now.

nate
  #40   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 209
Default for those of you who say land lines are reliable


"N8N" wrote in message
...
On Aug 5, 10:49 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message
this is getting rediculous, Verizon has to have the worst customer
service of any "legitimate" company in the history of this country. I
mean, I can't imagine anyone else providing such awful service and
staying in business. Why *don't* more people just cancel their land
lines? (I know why my parents don't, they live too far out in the
country to get cable. Otherwise...)


I've been a homeowner for 43 years in a couple of different states. I
honestly can't think of a singe time I did not have phone service, even in
severe storms when power was out. Cell reception, OTOH, is very spotty.

I don't doubt your mother's problems, but she is a very tiny minority. I'm
keeping my land line, and the DSL that is more reliable than my cable
service.


It just seems odd to me that she would be in a "minority" when I've
had the same problem in two different states. so that's at least
three states in my experience where you can't count on the phone co.

nate

I don't think anyone has mentioned that, at least here, Verizon will allow
you to continue to purchase the DSL service when you drop your land line
phone service as long as you can bundle the billing with another service
such as Verizon wireless. Thinking about doing that as we almost never use
our land line phone, especially since all of our friends and family (some
2000 miles away) have Verizon wireless and the long distance is free. I
have to pay Verizon $5 per month on my land line because I never use the
long distance service on it and they won't let me drop that long distance
service.

Tom G


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Contaminated Land Andrew Mawson UK diy 21 August 3rd 07 09:46 PM
drain across my land alanb[_2_] UK diy 3 July 19th 07 08:33 PM
Denuding the land Eigenvector Home Repair 18 June 30th 07 03:50 AM
From chalk lines to roof lines--Putting final shingles at the top [email protected] Home Repair 14 September 27th 06 02:23 AM
Raising Land John Keyser Home Ownership 5 August 13th 05 05:57 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:03 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 DIYbanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about DIY & home improvement"