Death knell for landlines - RANT

[k0ua]

When the switch happens will I need to buy new phones or will my rotary phones be OK?

There are two things that are going to survive the apocalypse, Well 3 if you want to count the coyotes. They are the cockroaches, and your rotary dial phone.

 

[3930dave]

There are two things that are going to survive the apocalypse, Well 3 if you want to count the coyotes. They are the cockroaches, and your rotary dial phone.

Actually, 4.

You forgot Keith Richards.

Something to be said for being tough, resilient, and doing something well....

Rgds, D.

 

[k0ua]

Actually, 4.

You forgot Keith Richards.

Something to be said for being tough, resilient, and doing something well....

Rgds, D.

You do have a point... Ole Keith is a true miracle.:laughing:

 

[bigdeano]

I remember the bad old days when the phone company supplied the rotary phone and you had to pay extra every month if you wanted more than one phone in your house. I think they charged extra for a long cord too.

 

[ultrarunner]

Everything was Bell System Property... if it broke they fixed it.

Was surprised today to see all the ATT vans out working at individual homes... seems the U-verse guys are always working.

 

[3930dave]

Everything was Bell System Property... if it broke they fixed it.

Was surprised today to see all the ATT vans out working at individual homes... seems the U-verse guys are always working.

Classic closed-ended system vs. open. Back when, Bell had responsibility for everything, end-to-end here. The service, while not fancy (bells/whistles) worked well, and at least up here, the cost before de-regulation was not unreasonable. Repair service was fast. This is circa late 70's.

I deal with Bell on one legacy phone line we still have, for the considerations I've posted on b4. Tech service re. that legacy line has remained competent and fast here. What I do find ironic is what dealing with the rest of Bell (admin, sales.....) has turned into up here.... good at elevating my BP, but not much else. So much for competition improving service.

After dealing with Bell for satellite service, and a cell provider they acquired, I have no intention to re-engage with them on any other products.

Rgds, D.

 

[TractorGuy]

Yep....we did the same for $25/mo after years of being bent over by Century Link for twice that a month for simple basic phone service.

We do still have DSL, a whopping 512k speed, for the bend over price of $61/mo with Century Link, but there are two wireless options getting ready to come to our area for $30/mo and 20mb speed. Can't wait to tell CL where they can stick their 'service'.

When I canceled my land line service and opted for DSL only with CentryLink they charged me 29.95 a month. I think it comes to around 34 and change after all the state and local taxes. After a year they bumped me to sixty something. I called and told them to either bump it back down or cancel. They put it back down to the $29.95 for another year and told me I should check a month before the year is up to see if the "special" can be extended for another year so I won't have to pay the higher price for a month. I have a reminder set in my phone calendar.

 

[dmccarty]

Dan, I know that the company I recently worked for was 100% focused on their Internet/data transport business not the landline business. Trust me they are well aware of the monthly decreasing subscriber counts in the landline end of the business.

Unfortunately, our land line service does not seem to care about Internet since they know we have no other provider that we can find. They have us and they know it. We are looking at other providers and getting some interesting information but it is not easy or certain. I really take what we are being told with a box of salt. Wifey has calls out to the state to see if they can prod the company to up our bandwidth to match what others in the area are getting. From the conversations she has had with the state, there are many people calling about poor service.

To be fair to the land line company, they are loosing phone connections to cell phones, so the fixed costs of maintaining the system is going to have to be spread over fewer customers which is going to increase their financial problems. They have a tough problem but it is not helping when they provide better service to some areas and not to others. If we had an alternative we would change providers without blinking an eye. We are not asking for giga bit rates but getting what the houses near us receive and we are willing to pay for it. One of the service guys said we get 2.9 MBPS but they will only give us 1.5 MBPS. :banghead: I told him, and we have told management, we would sign a piece of paper acknowledging the 2.9 limit and our willingness to pay for 3. It is better than getting 1.5. The houses nearest to us get 10 MBPS which would be adequate for us. Faster would be better of course. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

There are multiple fiber lines running on the road in front of us, yes it costs to tap those lines and I don't know if the service provider even owns one but it is still frustrating knowing there are bits flying by at the speed of light. The company IS taking tax money to put in a faster network to a bunch of beeves. :shocked: Hopefully, that new installation will give us faster service but the updated bandwidth map does not include our neighborhood, just the cattle, herons and the fish in the farm pond.

Later,
Dan

 

[ultrarunner]

When I made a complaint the response was they only deal with voice issues... we talked a bit more and the person said only 1 out of 10 complaints falls under the purview... so a lot of unhappy customers calling an agency that has no power to help...

 

[kcflhrc]

The best advice I can give you all is things aren't always as they appear. Being a phone man for 37 years I can tell you first hand this is a tough business to be competitive in. Money is spent in areas where you can get the greatest return on your investment. It's not rocket science, it's just business. Yes, we are in the business to make money, not to make Mary Sue and Billy Joe at the very end of BFE happy. The CAF Funding will help some of these areas to get upgraded, some not. One again, you have to spend the money wisely.