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Our main house line is VOIP, but we also have a regular wired phone line, partly for back-up, partly because faxes don't always play nice with VOIP.
I sent a fax off this morning to a doctor, and everything was fine. A couple of hours later, I happened to glance over at the phone and saw that line was lit. I checked. No dial tone. Uh-oh. Maybe the fax hadn't hung up properly? But I hadn't noticed anything before...
Shortly thereafter (and before I managed to motivate myself to force my knees to carry me up the stairs again), there was a knock at the door. Some guy had been doing some work next door, and their phone service was out. They were blaming him, and so he decided to check and see if maybe anyone else on the block was having issues. Which we were. That established, he stood there talking to me several minutes longer while I soaked in the pollen and the humidity and tried to figure out why he was still there. Finally, he left. I collapsed on the couch. (My knees still haven't recovered.)
I checked a few more times. The phone was still out. I remembered vaguely from the last time our phone was out that Verizon was in charge of the wires on our block. We have service with AT&T, but Verizon is in charge of the local wires. So I called Verizon. Went through their automated system, which promised me it would look into it and flag the account for the next 24 hours in case I needed to call back. Then it offered me the chance to speak to an actual human, which I took. Waited on hold. Finally got someone. Who told me that our service is with AT&T and I needed to speak with them. (The automated system noted that we had long distance service with Verizon. The operator didn't even notice that, and I don't think she would have cared.) I mentioned the thing from last time, and she admitted that, yes, AT&T had a contract with Verizon to do the local repair service here (she didn't mention that Verizon has a contract with AT&T for the same purpose in other places - the major phone companies basically divvied everything up so that one company is in charge of maintenance in any specific location - but that wasn't really relevant anyway) and I'd need to talk to AT&T, who would then contact the Verizon repair team. Any request she'd put through would just be wiped out when the system noticed we didn't have local service with them.
Right. Fine.
Called Mom back, because she'd called on my cell during the two minutes when I actually had a live person from Verizon on the line and I'd left that phone in the next room.
Called AT&T. Got put on hold. Waited. The light went out on the affected phone line, but there was still no dial tone. The light flickered on and off a couple of times. Still no dial tone. Waited some more. Finally, someone picked up. The light was off, and had been for a minute or so. Suspiciously, I put the other phone to my ear for one more check, and... there was a dial tone. Everything was back to normal.
Feeling like an idiot, I politely explained that service had been out for a couple of hours, but it had just come back, and thanks anyway.
*sigh* Isn't that always the way?
I sent a fax off this morning to a doctor, and everything was fine. A couple of hours later, I happened to glance over at the phone and saw that line was lit. I checked. No dial tone. Uh-oh. Maybe the fax hadn't hung up properly? But I hadn't noticed anything before...
Shortly thereafter (and before I managed to motivate myself to force my knees to carry me up the stairs again), there was a knock at the door. Some guy had been doing some work next door, and their phone service was out. They were blaming him, and so he decided to check and see if maybe anyone else on the block was having issues. Which we were. That established, he stood there talking to me several minutes longer while I soaked in the pollen and the humidity and tried to figure out why he was still there. Finally, he left. I collapsed on the couch. (My knees still haven't recovered.)
I checked a few more times. The phone was still out. I remembered vaguely from the last time our phone was out that Verizon was in charge of the wires on our block. We have service with AT&T, but Verizon is in charge of the local wires. So I called Verizon. Went through their automated system, which promised me it would look into it and flag the account for the next 24 hours in case I needed to call back. Then it offered me the chance to speak to an actual human, which I took. Waited on hold. Finally got someone. Who told me that our service is with AT&T and I needed to speak with them. (The automated system noted that we had long distance service with Verizon. The operator didn't even notice that, and I don't think she would have cared.) I mentioned the thing from last time, and she admitted that, yes, AT&T had a contract with Verizon to do the local repair service here (she didn't mention that Verizon has a contract with AT&T for the same purpose in other places - the major phone companies basically divvied everything up so that one company is in charge of maintenance in any specific location - but that wasn't really relevant anyway) and I'd need to talk to AT&T, who would then contact the Verizon repair team. Any request she'd put through would just be wiped out when the system noticed we didn't have local service with them.
Right. Fine.
Called Mom back, because she'd called on my cell during the two minutes when I actually had a live person from Verizon on the line and I'd left that phone in the next room.
Called AT&T. Got put on hold. Waited. The light went out on the affected phone line, but there was still no dial tone. The light flickered on and off a couple of times. Still no dial tone. Waited some more. Finally, someone picked up. The light was off, and had been for a minute or so. Suspiciously, I put the other phone to my ear for one more check, and... there was a dial tone. Everything was back to normal.
Feeling like an idiot, I politely explained that service had been out for a couple of hours, but it had just come back, and thanks anyway.
*sigh* Isn't that always the way?
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From:
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Also, on a very thinly related front: good to know you have a fax machine -- Warner had wondered about that. You never know when it would come in handy.
From:
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And yes, it does come in handy now and again. Sometimes, it comes down to just the fax, ma'am.
("A fax?" "Yeah, see there's this machine that..." "Oh, I know what it is. Couldn't do without it. I just need to load it with fresh paper..." I love Martha Kent.)
From:
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*GROAN* Again with you! *shakes fist* ;)
(I LOVE that quote!! :D)