atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information PHONE STOPS WORKING, WHEN IT RAINS.

hi,
a friend of mine, in NY, called me today, and said his phone works fine, until it rains. then its nothing but static, and sometimes, just goes dead. he is still on twisted pair copper, and I don't know if it runs to fiber or not. I told him, his copper is getting wet somewhere, between his drop and the C/O. he has called VERIZON many times, and they send a tech over, on a sunny day, he checks the line, and says, "everything looks good, call us, if it happens again!!!" I told him to ask to talk to the supervisor, and have then send a tech out, on a rainy day, when his phone is not working. I bet the tech will find a short. I also told him, that VERIZON, probably doesn't want to invest time and money to solve his problem, because the copper is being phased out, and soon, he will have VOIP. maybe, there are not any GOOD twisted pair, for VERIZON, to put him on??? any ideas? I think VERIZON is just stringing him along , until, VOIP is in place. nothing that a "burn" wouldn't solve!!! well maybe...

Bob

Might be in his house wire.

I had that problem in Brooklyn - till I climbed the pole behind the church on the corner and went into the crossbox. Beat it a few times to get the wildlife out. Found my line, (toner on it from the house) took it off the locknuts, restripped it, cleaned the terminals, put it back on, CLOSED THE COVER ON THE BOX (probably for the first time in 30 years) and never had a problem again.

As far as there not being any good pairs - that's a distinct possibility. I've seen it before, often.

Sam

In areas where Verizon offers FiOS, copper cables are...essentially...abandoned in place. If reliable copper pairs are unavailable, Verizon will migrate problem prone customers off of copper and onto fiber after so many repair attempts.

In areas where FiOS is not offered...and that includes dark zones within FiOS areas...copper is supposed to be maintained.

That is a great story Sam!

I had the same issue with Verizon in NY. I was able to get their CSR to place a note in the ticket that it happened only on rainy days. The tech moved my line to another pair in the can on a pole. That fixed it. As more people migrate to Fios, more pairs become available for issues like this.

When this happens has he taken his phone and plugged it directly into the NID to see if it's his problem or the Telco? If he doesn't know how to do this I'm sure someone could help him.

John - the best part of the story.....After calling repair (again!) an having the gal tell me that she couldn't hear me because there was too much static I just about lost it. I went down and banged on the sexton's door and told him I was going up the pole. He just stared at me. When I told him I was done he asked if I knew what his day job was? No, I said. He was a powerman (rectifiers, batteries and generators) with NY Tel. I thought he was going to turn me in, but he understood.

Sam

hello,
thanks for the response! love the stories. the Verizon techs, did run a check on his internal house wiring., and all is good. its an intermitting problem, but, i know there is a solution, i think its just a matter of getting Verizon to move on it. ive gone round and round with at&t, here at my house, and was a thorn in their side, until they fixed the problem. im not knocking the phone companies, but it just seems like you have to keep calling for service, until that one tech, shows up, and then, "wa-la", problem solved!!! i used to be a CSR, in house at IBM. i serviced system printers, mostly hardware, but had to work hand and hand with line techs, software engineers, etc. one time, i had a problem with a system printer, and i narrowed it down to an engineering change (EC), that was not installed on the printer. the software engineer, disagreed, and had the printer swapped out, for another identical printer. the cost to move the two printers, to do the swap was $5000. and that was just the fee for roe movers! the whole deal, cost about $8000! the so called "new" printer failed the same way as the original!!! software engineering, finally did the EC on this printer, and it was up and running in 10 minutes!!!! you just have to get the right professional, on the ticket, and "wa-la!!!"

Also stated:


So unless he or someone has checked it from the NID when it's bad, you don't know which way the trouble is, unless I missed something.