My Telephone providers are idiots

[k0ua]

I tried to explain to my kids what I didn't have when I was a kid. The list was almost endless, so I just told them I had a bicycle, a basketball, and baseball equipment.

And you probably had a lot more fun!

 

[JDgreen227]

Without reviewing the thread, I think the main complaint is paying the same as nearby people with good service, and getting poor service/lower level service in return.

Bruce

EXACTLY...the telecommunications companies are in the same league as the oil companies. And kOua...what good is a smartphone when your service is one crappy bar of 3G at most, and do you REALLY consider 1.51 mbps broadband? Telecommunications providers here in Michigan want to end landline service...easy for them to ask for....after screwing the consumers over with overpriced and crappy service, NOW they want to discontinue that.

 

[Wooddust]

I loathe Verizon. With all of my being I despise these people.

 

[k0ua]

EXACTLY...the telecommunications companies are in the same league as the oil companies. And kOua...what good is a smartphone when your service is one crappy bar of 3G at most, and do you REALLY consider 1.51 mbps broadband? Telecommunications providers here in Michigan want to end landline service...easy for them to ask for....after screwing the consumers over with overpriced and crappy service, NOW they want to discontinue that.

Crappy service I don't doubt, overpriced? What makes you think it is overpriced? and why do you think they want to end the landline services? Don't you think that if they could make a "living" selling you landline services they would? The reason they want to end landline services is because they are going broke providing them. There is NO money in it for them. If the services were "overpriced" don't you think there would be competitors trying to get their piece of the pie?

As for the lousy 3g cell service, what can I say? Sure another million plus dollar tower and equipment needs to be built nearer to you.. But some engineering and financial analysis team has looked at that and decided that the return on investment was not there at this time. As soon as the ROI is a viable option, and they will serve enough people, they will take it up with the budget committee and funds will be allocated for the new tower. It is as simple as that. They don't care about YOU JD, they care about serving a large number of people with the lowest investment to maximize profit to the stockholders.

You guys can jump up and down and cry all you like, and it won't change a single economic outcome. If rural telco's even survive,in the future it will not be because of voice services, it will be because of service to wireless entities and the growth of wireless communications. As wireless carriers continue to grow and invest in infastructure the "gaps" will eventually fill in. All I can say is be patient. (yeah easy for me to say with 15Meg broadband, 30 if I want it for an extra $10, and 4 bars on my 30 meg 4G cell service) I am only the messenger, shoot me if you please.

 

[murphy1244]

Crappy service I don't doubt, overpriced? What makes you think it is overpriced? and why do you think they want to end the landline services? Don't you think that if they could make a "living" selling you landline services they would? The reason they want to end landline services is because they are going broke providing them. There is NO money in it for them. If the services were "overpriced" don't you think there would be competitors trying to get their piece of the pie?

As for the lousy 3g cell service, what can I say? Sure another million plus dollar tower and equipment needs to be built nearer to you.. But some engineering and financial analysis team has looked at that and decided that the return on investment was not there at this time. As soon as the ROI is a viable option, and they will serve enough people, they will take it up with the budget committee and funds will be allocated for the new tower. It is as simple as that. They don't care about YOU JD, they care about serving a large number of people with the lowest investment to maximize profit to the stockholders.

You guys can jump up and down and cry all you like, and it won't change a single economic outcome. If rural telco's even survive,in the future it will not be because of voice services, it will be because of service to wireless entities and the growth of wireless communications. As wireless carriers continue to grow and invest in infastructure the "gaps" will eventually fill in. All I can say is be patient. (yeah easy for me to say with 15Meg broadband, 30 if I want it for an extra $10, and 4 bars on my 30 meg 4G cell service) I am only the messenger, shoot me if you please.

James, I don't know about your state but In Ohio I paid extra on my bill for services ifor rural and people who can't afford to pay their bill. Now that I'm rural I have to have a cable company to even get a landline. Bad luck I guess.

 

[aczlan]

And if you need better signal, buy yourself a signal booster: Amazon.com: zBoost ZB545 SOHO Dual-Band Cell Phone Signal Booster for Home and Office up to 2,500 sq. ft. of Coverage: Cell Phones & Accessories

Aaron Z

 

[k0ua]

James, I don't know about your state but In Ohio I paid extra on my bill for services ifor rural and people who can't afford to pay their bill. Now that I'm rural I have to have a cable company to even get a landline. Bad luck I guess.

Well urban subscribers have always subsidized the rural subscribers whether they knew it or not. It has been that way from day one. It has never made good financial sense from the telco's prospective to provide rural service. But when there was many urban subscribers and the government telling telco's that they had to provide universal service the telco's could afford to provide it. Now that there are few urban subscribers and fewer still every day, the rural subscribers who still want the service are going to be in trouble. It is a death spiral and rural subscribers are caught in the whirlpool and my prediction is they will go down the drain.

 

[murphy1244]

Well urban subscribers have always subsidized the rural subscribers whether they knew it or not. It has been that way from day one. It has never made good financial sense from the telco's prospective to provide rural service. But when there was many urban subscribers and the government telling telco's that they had to provide universal service the telco's could afford to provide it. Now that there are few urban subscribers and fewer still every day, the rural subscribers who still want the service are going to be in trouble. It is a death spiral and rural subscribers are caught in the whirlpool and my prediction is they will go down the drain.

Do they still charge that portion on a bill anymore?

 

[k0ua]

And if you need better signal, buy yourself a signal booster: Amazon.com: zBoost ZB545 SOHO Dual-Band Cell Phone Signal Booster for Home and Office up to 2,500 sq. ft. of Coverage: Cell Phones & Accessories

Aaron Z

yep, put an antenna on it if need be so you can get more than "one crappy bar of 3g service". Various brands of these have been for sale for many years. Build out your own infrastructure. Don't wait for the budget committee to decide to build out to you. Take matters in your own hands.

 

[k0ua]

Do they still charge that portion on a bill anymore?

I think so.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Crappy service I don't doubt, overpriced? What makes you think it is overpriced? and why do you think they want to end the landline services? Don't you think that if they could make a "living" selling you landline services they would? The reason they want to end landline services is because they are going broke providing them. There is NO money in it for them. If the services were "overpriced" don't you think there would be competitors trying to get their piece of the pie?

As for the lousy 3g cell service, what can I say? Sure another million plus dollar tower and equipment needs to be built nearer to you.. But some engineering and financial analysis team has looked at that and decided that the return on investment was not there at this time. As soon as the ROI is a viable option, and they will serve enough people, they will take it up with the budget committee and funds will be allocated for the new tower. It is as simple as that. They don't care about YOU JD, they care about serving a large number of people with the lowest investment to maximize profit to the stockholders.

You guys can jump up and down and cry all you like, and it won't change a single economic outcome. If rural telco's even survive,in the future it will not be because of voice services, it will be because of service to wireless entities and the growth of wireless communications. As wireless carriers continue to grow and invest in infastructure the "gaps" will eventually fill in. All I can say is be patient. (yeah easy for me to say with 15Meg broadband, 30 if I want it for an extra $10, and 4 bars on my 30 meg 4G cell service) I am only the messenger, shoot me if you please.

There's a lot of logic to what you say. But - consider my situation... we live within 3 miles of the nearest tower, but just out of it's range. Zero cell phone service at my house. Verizon sure didn't tell me that when they sold me their overpriced service. (Overpriced? Yep - $163/month for zero cell phone service is overpriced.) That price also includes telephone line internet service, which is dead slow IF at all. I can count on the internet going down for long periods of time several times per day. That makes it pretty hard to run a home-business.

As far a signal boosters go, those don't always work as advertised either. I've bought two and can't tell one iota difference in the signal.

Sure there are alternatives. I could build myself my own million dollar tower. Or move back to a mega size city. Or better yet, I could just complain about it here on the TbN board and get no results Either way, it's not life threatening, and I'll live through it.

Sorry - I'm bailing out of this thread - I have a tractor that's just out there calling my name

 

[phiferpharm]

Geez, and to think ,my only b1tch was that the idiots ran what looks like doorbell wire 100 feet across my yard. Sadly, it got wet last night in the tail end of the storm and I feel like I'm in a Rice Crispies Commercial when I try to talk on it. . Now if the neighbor just brings back my lawn mower without running over it, we're good to go...:dance1:

 

[k0ua]

There's a lot of logic to what you say. But - consider my situation... we live within 3 miles of the nearest tower, but just out of it's range. Zero cell phone service at my house. Verizon sure didn't tell me that when they sold me their overpriced service. (Overpriced? Yep - $163/month for zero cell phone service is overpriced.) That price also includes telephone line internet service, which is dead slow IF at all. I can count on the internet going down for long periods of time several times per day. That makes it pretty hard to run a home-business.

As far a signal boosters go, those don't always work as advertised either. I've bought two and can't tell one iota difference in the signal.

Sure there are alternatives. I could build myself my own million dollar tower. Or move back to a mega size city. Or better yet, I could just complain about it here on the TbN board and get no results Either way, it's not life threatening, and I'll live through it.

Sorry - I'm bailing out of this thread - I have a tractor that's just out there calling my name

I have heard the Wilson "boosters" (actually repeaters) are the best. I don't have personal experience, but it is what I have heard. We used to sell and service their land mobile products another life ago and they worked pretty well. The main issue with any repeater installation is "densense" where your own transmitter is desensitizes your own receiver. You can mitigate that somewhat by using a directional antenna for your external antenna. I would recommend a good yagi beam type antenna as high and in the clear as you can get it. This will help not only with the capture of the signals from the distant tower, but also help with the desense problem by the deep nulls that the yagi affords off of the back and sides of the antenna.

 

[k0ua]

Geez, and to think ,my only b1tch was that the idiots ran what looks like doorbell wire 100 feet across my yard. Sadly, it got wet last night in the tail end of the storm and I feel like I'm in a Rice Crispies Commercial when I try to talk on it. . Now if the neighbor just brings back my lawn mower without running over it, we're good to go...:dance1:

Doug, did they give you a due date when the drop would be plowed in?

 

[aczlan]

There's a lot of logic to what you say. But - consider my situation... we live within 3 miles of the nearest tower, but just out of it's range. Zero cell phone service at my house. Verizon sure didn't tell me that when they sold me their overpriced service. (Overpriced? Yep - $163/month for zero cell phone service is overpriced.) That price also includes telephone line internet service, which is dead slow IF at all. I can count on the internet going down for long periods of time several times per day. That makes it pretty hard to run a home-business.

How much data do you use? If you talk more thna you use data, you might be able to switch to Page Plus and save some money (we went from $130+ per month to $70/month for our 3 lines). If you use more data, Straight Talk might be worth looking into. Both run on Verizon's network (PagePlus exclusively, StraightTalk if you get the right phone), I have been very happy with PagePlus and I have family who use StraightTalk and they like it.

Aaron Z

 

[JDgreen227]

And if you need better signal, buy yourself a signal booster: Amazon.com: zBoost ZB545 SOHO Dual-Band Cell Phone Signal Booster for Home and Office up to 2,500 sq. ft. of Coverage: Cell Phones & Accessories

Aaron Z

Have tried that as well as other methods...so how is a booster supposed to work when there is such a limited signal to begin with?

 

[k0ua]

Have tried that as well as other methods...so how is a booster supposed to work when there is such a limited signal to begin with?

By getting a bigger signal into the booster. You do this by putting up a good yagi antenna on the roof pointed at the nearest tower.

 

[phiferpharm]

Doug, did they give you a due date when the drop would be plowed in?

No, they said they had expedited it and I should get a call within 7 business days when they would set up the scheduled installation time. The only thing they said was that the installation should be within the next 4 to 6 weeks.

 

[BobRip]

Have tried that as well as other methods...so how is a booster supposed to work when there is such a limited signal to begin with?

Your house walls may reduce the signal. Also a higher location I.e. An antenna on the roof, will get more signal. Also the yagi antenna is a better one than the one in your cell phone.

 

[JDgreen227]

Your house walls may reduce the signal. Also a higher location I.e. An antenna on the roof, will get more signal. Also the yagi antenna is a better one than the one in your cell phone.

So....tell us why the ONLY way we can get service from our DSL that approaches the bare minimum 1.51 mbps is to have all computers HARDWIRED to the router.....I just ran a speedtest on this laptop and it gave me a report of 1.48 mbps....AND I PAY FOR 3 MBPS !!!! Wireless N is worthless ten feet away from the router....WORTHLESS. Our phones frequently get disconnected from the router when they are 15 feet way....

Frontier banned me from their Facebook page because I kept posting complaints about their p*iss poor crappy overpriced service. Verizon did the same....they refused to do anything about the issues we are having. TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES ARE GREEDY, WORTHLESS F*CKTARDS!!!!!!! And the reason I say that is because they want you to commit to a 2 year contract minimum, and THEN when the service they deliver doesn't meet what they claim, they refuse to let you out of the contract.