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

justbill,

Right. The problem is, Verizon does not send a tech out, to check the line, when its bad (raining). That's why I suggested, to my friend, to call Verizon, and ask to talk to someone "higher up", and maybe they will send a tech out, to diagnose the problem. My point being, why don't Verizon just fix it??? Why aggravate the customer?

One of the worst kept secrets is that Verizon...like at&t...wants out of the landline business. With residential service contracting due to people relying 100% on cellphones or cable providers, the Bell companies are content to sell parts of their networks to independent operators. Consider how at&t sold off its Connecticut network to Frontier Communications and Verizon handed Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to FairPoint.

at&t wants to abandon rural holdings that nobody wants to buy.

The point I'm trying to make is you don't need Verizon to see if the trouble is in or out if there's an NID. Just plug a phone directly into the NID when it's bad and see where the trouble is. If the trouble is in he can quit jacking with Verizon, unless he has a wiring and maintenance contract with them. Either way he'll be more informed than he is now.

I'm done now.

justbill,

yes, I understand what you are saying. by plugging a "GOOD" phone into the NID, you bypass the internal wiring, and if there is still static, etc..., on the line, then Verizon has a problem on the line comming into the NID. my friend doesn't understand that, but has told me that, the Verizon tech, opened the NID, then came in the house and made a few calls, and told my friend, that there is no problem on the line. the whole point of my question, was, why doesn't Verizon just come out there, when its raining, throw a short on the pair, and find out if there is a problem on their end. I thought maybe there was a reason Verizon is dragging there feet on this, besides the fact that Verizon doesn't want to maintain the copper, or landlines anymore. I am SORRY, this question got so blown out of proportion.... bottom line, the customer has a legit beef, and Verizon is really jerking my friend around! I just thought maybe, Verizon has a good reason, for not fixing the problem, that I over looked...bob

Never expect common sense when dealing with Verizon!

Have your friend keep opening tickets with Verizon. At some point a Chronic Trouble report can be justified.

What Dexman said. Eventually, when enough trouble reports are made, an actual tech that knows how to trouble shoot an intermittent problem will be dispatched. It's true that Verizon doesn't care about the copper maintenance anymore. Drive around western PA and you will see open splice cases, open pole terminals and lead cables with plastic, temporary closures on open splice points.

When I call in a copper trouble report, without exception, the tech will offer to replace the cable drop with FiOS. In areas that do not have FiOS, they will monkey around with various spare pairs until you either get tired of calling them or they are threatened with a complaint to the PUC (Public Utility Commission). Even then, they know they can delay doing anything for months.

A business owner that we sold a system to asked if I would go to his mother's home in Washington, PA to trouble shoot a single line telephone problem that Verizon had been messing with for 6 months. The day I went there, the skies opened up, lighting and thunder all around me and the pedestal outside her mobile home was flooded with 6" of water. "See, the 90+ year old woman said, cracking and static. I can't hear people talking and people can't hear me talking." Well, no wonder. I noticed that the underground cable was spliced several times and, after bailing out the terminal, dug up the feed about 6 feet and found an open splice that, somehow, got buried and never closed.

I called Verizon and reported what I found. Their response was: "If you can fix it, then fix it. We can't have a tech out there for a few days. You know there's a bad storm going on, right now!" Well....DUH!

Not only did I repair the splice and remove about 4 other splices, but I raised the pedestal above the water line a foot higher. That very night, the woman slipped and fell and broke her hip. When she crawled to the phone, it worked and an ambulance was able to reach her. What do you think would have happened if that phone had not worked?

Rcaman

rcaman,
Wow! You got there just in the nick of time! My friend has been calling Verizon for almost a year about this problem. He lives up in the sticks, and that probably doesn't help matters any. He has gotten to the point, that when it rains, he goes next door to his brothers house, and uses their phone!!! When he told me that he had all but given up on Verizon, I told him, I didn't realize it had been going on that long! I immediately told him to call Public Service Commission, in Albany, NY! Hope that will light a fire under Verizon, but like you said, it could still be awhile.

you need to document the calls then threaten a complaint to the Public service commission . That will usually get someones attention at verizon

To me it's a nobrainer, how about just dumping Verizon? Is there another service provider like a cable company in the area? Where in NY exactly is this guy? I'm working on the exact same problem for a restaurant. Old paper insulated UG cable that's under a main road to the building. Been getting the runaround for months. It's a former train station so there are train tracks on the other side. Verizon refuses to run new aerial fiber for FIOS across either the road or the tracks. Funny thing is they have cable supplying TV and internet and the cable company had no problem running the drop. So goodbye Verizon and the BS (and the customer will save over $100/mo too!)

-Hal