My Telephone providers are idiots

[BobRip]

Just to be absurd, I don't like how us country folks have to drive further and spend more money on gasoline. I also have a longer driveway to maintain and a bigger yard to mow. It's just not fair and the government should do something to make my cost the same as apartment dwellers. Also I should get a shorter work day cause it takes me longer to get to work.

 

[k0ua]

Just to be absurd, I don't like how us country folks have to drive further and spend more money on gasoline. I also have a longer driveway to maintain and a bigger yard to mow. It's just not fair and the government should do something to make my cost the same as apartment dwellers. Also I should get a shorter work day cause it takes me longer to get to work.

Well said!..It just aint fair Bob! just aint fair!

 

[dodge man]

My wife works for a telephone co-op. After reading all these posts they are the exception not the rule. A real person answers the phone and problems are usually fixed the same day.

There are reasons they want to sell phone and internet together in rural areas. They get money to serve rural areas and if you don't get a phone they don't get the free money so that is why they bundle.

Also even though phone lines have problems it's very reliable. My wife feels some day there will be some kind of catastrophe and people will realize how important land lines are. I'm not talking a zombie apocalypse but maybe a bad storm that takes out cell towers.

 

[KubotainNH]

When they put the fiber run to my house they removed the copper line. I guess they think they locked me into something. Luckily there's multiple options in my area.

 

[JDgreen227]

I had DSL For about two years. Sometimes the speed would drop to 300 bits per second. I called them everyday for 6 weeks. They would claim to fix it and make no improvement. I concluded that trying to get high speed data on a twisted pair wire that was designed for voice was unrealistic. Fortunately cable was available in my area. I can't remember, did you look at satellite? Have you talked to higher level people to let you out of the contract. I am surprised you have to have one for DSL.

Yes....Frontier said I HAD to agree to a 2 year contract to get DSL....and they refuse to let me leave the contract early. Hughesnet is available here....I cannot wait...but hope whatever they offer will give us better router connections with our cell phones. Frontier has replaced my router twice now...it's a Netgear 7550 but they refuse to give me an alternate model.

 

[caps]

Crazy stuff. When I had my driveway put in, I put two 3" PVC lines under the driveway just in case I wanted to run something to the Utility pole or my garage. When we finally got cable in this area I called to have it installed. It was going to cost a small fortune to have the wire burried. I told them that I would dig the trench and that I had a conduit already and I would run a piece of 1/2 75 ohm hardline from the utility pole to my house with connectors on it. When the installers showed up they insisted that they couldn't use my hardline - even though it was better than the stuff they were using and that they could not put the wire through the conduit as that would constitute burying the wire and that wasn't their job. All they were willing to do is run a piece of RG-6 on top of the ground and the contractor would have to come and install it. I said fine and when they left, I disconnected their cable, hooked up mine and filled the trench. I then called the company and said never mind burying the cable. At the end of the month they sent me a bill for digging a trench, putting the cable under the driveway and doing the install. After two months of back and forth about the issue, including several photos that I took, they finally relented and cancelled the bill.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

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

I have the Wilson mobile unit for my pickup. It helps a lot to avoid spots with no cell service. I'm thinking of getting one for the house, which has no cell service most days, maybe half a bar.

 

[8N Ren]

I have a Wilson in my house, it works mostly ok, but apparently the local cell provider has been doing tower upgrade work a few miles away so right now at best I'm getting 2 bars.

I think every tel-co is operated the same, at least in North America, our land line only took 27 months to install lol. They did at least bury it, but when the installer got there to hook it up he refused to drill through the house to get the cable inside.
I grabbed my drill and did it myself laughing at him the whole time asking why did you even show up if I'm doing half your job!!??? I was the one that even sealed up the little grey box on the side of the house. Seems like most of them are useless.

 

[boggen]

WISP (wireless internet service provider)
NOT cell phone service provider

WISP is kinda like high speed internet for rural areas. an antenna mounts some place outside, kinda like a satellite dish, and points at a given tower. it is more expensive than DSL / cable internet, but less expensive than satellite.

my aunt has it, and works good for them. most likely you will need to call up local WISP company and they will need to come out and get up on roof of house possibly pending on location and line of site to there towers. and test of wireless single.


cell phone internet is more expensive, vs satellite internet at least for me. and more issues with cell phone connectivity. not to mention speed and amount you can download is most likely less with cell phones.

DSL / CABLE, you might be able to go with a third party vs what you have locally. due to all the subsidizing and this and that. for a cheaper monthly bill, but you will still be limited to the local area business that maintain the actual fiber, and wires :/

=================
some issues....

normally tel company, gas company, sewage, electrical, what ever company, is normally responsible from hookup at street up to were it connects to the given companies meter or box on your house.

if the given company is responsible. for that area, they will most likely demand correct installation is done. with paper work to prove it. in case something happens and they have pay the bill.

sometimes given company will pay for X amount of length from road, and anything over that, you have to pay for.

sometimes you may get into situation were given company only responsible up to x amount of feet off the street.

sometimes you might be better off skipping the main given company directly, and working with a third party company.

 

[KubotainNH]

These guys are taught a minimal amount of info and that's all they know. When my house was new I had one of the companies in to install they're stuff. The guy got a drill out and wanted to drill through my new floor that has heated floors. Ah, put that drill down. My whole house is wired with cat 5. I told him to wire it to my cat 5 punch block. He was lost. I said wire it 2 pair to a particular jack. He said he only knew how to do all 8 wires and that it wouldn't work. Ah yeah, I've been doing this stuff for almost 30 years, 8 wires is needed for gig but not 100 meg. I told him to wire a jack in the basement and I'll do the rest. By the time he was done I had my PC and all the rest of the wiring ready to go and it worked. Amazing... :confused3: