Death knell for landlines - RANT

[ultrarunner]

It also helps to have juice...

Not too far away lives a State Senator... all the infrastructure dates from the 1950's and is on power polls.

Somehow AT&T managed to provide the Senator service the rest of us have not been able to get...

 

[kcflhrc]

Like I said, all may not be as it appears. You know the song, STYX, the Grand Illusion? Very possible the Senator was paying for dedicated T-1 service at around $500 to $1000 per month based on mileage, cable mileage.. Or the state was paying for it. I'm sure the Senator and the Sate have way deeper pockets for broadband service than most of us. Yes there are ways to get it done, but what are you willing to pay?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

There was a time when American Telephone service was the best in the world... Bar None.

The idea was to design a system that was as reliable as humanly possible and maintain staffing to promptly handle anything that might come up.

The downward spiral started with the breakup... that replaced a single national entity with several and it was never the same after that.

I remember storm damage or vandalism compromised individual service... the phone company would have people night, weekends, holidays... only one goal... make the repair.

The idea was to lower costs for business... as business was subsidizing residential... and costs did drop.

It's interesting today... the monthly cost for service is almost 50% regulatory fees, city and state charges/taxes and special programs... $34 at the cabin and this is without making a single call on the old dial wall phone...

The downward spiral began with cell phones, which cut the cash flow of local phone companies to a fraction. Of you have cell service you still have a better phone system than you got from Ma Bell. If you rely on a land line, you rely on obsolete wiring that phone companies can't afford to maintain.

 

[ultrarunner]

Cell phones here were all Pac Bell or ATT... arms of the phone company.

People started switching when service had too many dead spots...

A lot of people in this area that depend on cell pay for Verizon.

 

[k0ua]

Cell phones here were all Pac Bell or ATT... arms of the phone company.

People started switching when service had too many dead spots...

A lot of people in this area that depend on cell pay for Verizon.

Same in this region, if you absolutely must have cell service, you get a Verizon phone. They work out in the country better. The rest work fine in the citys, and may even have better terms, deals, etc but you need Verizon if you absolutely must have a signal. My wife and I rely on them for setting up hotspots in our clients homes so we can get on the laptop and sign them up for insurance or drug coverage.

 

[kcflhrc]

It never ceases to amaze me how people expect fantastic land line service but they just accept crappy cell phone service. If someone gets a little static on their land line they call in a ticket. But a dropped call on a cell phone, well, no big deal. Times are a changing, unfortunately for the worst.

 

[JerryK]

It never ceases to amaze me how people expect fantastic land line service but they just accept crappy cell phone service. If someone gets a little static on their land line they call in a ticket. But a dropped call on a cell phone, well, no big deal. Times are a changing, unfortunately for the worst.

Ditto, Son called me last night. Had to hang up, shut off his wifi [ or turn it on ] running on his broadband that he gets with his high speed cable internet. So he could hear me. Folks call, sometimes their cell is so crappy you can't hardly hear them. Long pauses, then they can hear you again... Or, you are both conversing and just stops working. I LOVE my landline phone and DSL internet...!!!!! [[[ ]]]

 

[ultrarunner]

It never ceases to amaze me how people expect fantastic land line service but they just accept crappy cell phone service. If someone gets a little static on their land line they call in a ticket. But a dropped call on a cell phone, well, no big deal. Times are a changing, unfortunately for the worst.

I had very poor landline service... never could get it resolved.

That is until AT&T sent me a letter advertising DSL in my area so I jumped on it... had always been told I was too far out at the end of the line for DSL\

So the crew comes to install and finds I have an awful line and they can't do it... I did call and file a complaint using the advertisement as proof...

Long story short... they had to string a new line a dozen power poles to get me the DSL and magically... my voice line became perfect.

With Comcast... you can sign up for service they promise and if it is too much trouble they simply cancel the order....

 

[TractorGuy]

I had very poor landline service... never could get it resolved.

That is until AT&T sent me a letter advertising DSL in my area so I jumped on it... had always been told I was too far out at the end of the line for DSL\

So the crew comes to install and finds I have an awful line and they can't do it... I did call and file a complaint using the advertisement as proof...

Long story short... they had to string a new line a dozen power poles to get me the DSL and magically... my voice line became perfect.

With Comcast... you can sign up for service they promise and if it is too much trouble they simply cancel the order....

We have decent land line and cell service but no need having both. I have to keep a landline for DSL unlimited data streaming. I wish I knew how much data we actually use watching netfilx and using the internet.

Centry Link up sold me to 10 Mbps a couple of years back then couldn't deliver. It only got up to near 3. A tech worked on it for 3 days then they ended up downgrading me back to 1.5 at the same price. Well, actually they offered me 10 Mbps for the same price I was paying for 1.5. Funny thing is these changes always prorate somehow or another so you get a big bill in between. Took months to get the overcharge credited. Any time I allow a change now I make sure it takes effect on the day my service starts and ends to prevent the prorate problem.

 

[ultrarunner]

Billing can be a mess and even more so to get it corrected.

Spend a portion each day reviewing invoices and it does seem more time to get corrections.