topic Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday. in Community Chat

We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:13:28 GMT

DD went to Scranton do errands yesterday. It's 30 miles (one way) from us. She was hitting Wegmans too. I tried to call her to add something to the list. Phone wasn't working, it said No Line. We have portable phones. We also get no cell service here. We are between two hills here in Hooterville.

She got home and tried to figure out the problem. No go. Got back in the car and drove 24 miles round trip to Walmart and got new phones. 2 phones were $65 bucks. Back home, they didn't work. At this point she was uttering a few choice words.

Back in the car to drive to where she could get a signal on her cell to call Frontier about the phone. Our internet was working but not the phones. I waited and waited some more. Two hours later in she comes. She had to go almost to the town where Walmart is and she just came from. She knows she gets full bars at Dunkin to she parked there and called Frontier, was on hold for over an hour. They are putting in/switching to fiber optic stuff.

Tech coming Wednesday between 1 and 5 pm. Great.

So I will be alone for 12 hrs. Monday and Tuesday, part of Wed. with no phone. Hope there isn't a fire. DD said she will leave her cell. I guess 9 1 1 works even if you have no service.

I emailed people and said to call DD at work if they need to get hold of us.

I hate living in the country. It is so inconvient.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

Tinkrbl44 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:23:57 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2

With technology, it's always something, isn't it?

While I'm sure your living in the wilderness has its benefits, I'm not sure having bad phone service is a good idea.

Any idea how much a satellite phone costs?

Does your mail carrier experience any issues when delivering mail?

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:38:17 GMT

@Tinkrbl44 I wouln't say wilderness but we have to drive a ways for basics. The nearest town with a Weis, Walmart, CVS, my Dr. Urgent Care etc. is 24 miles round trip. It's really fun in the winter.

The house phone usually works but no cell service.

No mail carrier, we have a post office box so we have to drive to town (actually our town is a village). It's 4 miles from our house so 8 miles round trip. It is better when getting packages or mail order meds. Our post mistress is great.

I looked into getting a mail box at the house but was told we are ("on the line") between two zip codes. We would have to change our address. Nope, too much trouble.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

qualitygal — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:46:30 GMT

Can you get a land line?

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

Kachina624 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:48:14 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2. Years ago I went home with a friend for a weekend visit. I believe her dad came and got us from Scranton. We got there, pulled up in front of their big house and it was a funeral home! Nobody had mentioned a word about her living in a funeral home, and I'd never been in one.

I was a bit taken back for sure.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

San Antonio Gal — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 21:21:27 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 wrote:
@Tinkrbl44 I wouln't say wilderness but we have to drive a ways for basics. The nearest town with a Weis, Walmart, CVS, my Dr. Urgent Care etc. is 24 miles round trip. It's really fun in the winter.

The house phone usually works but no cell service.

@CrazyKittyLvr2 - You say your house phone usually works, so you do have a land line also?

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 21:33:44 GMT

@qualitygal I think technically we have is a landline. The base that holds the portable phone hooks into the line we had when we had a "regular" phone.

I like the portable phone. I can go from room to room with it. It works in the yard. Now, it won't work much farther than the yard but that's ok.

When my mobility started getting bad DD told me to take the phone with me when I went to the car in case I fell so I could call for help otherwise I could lay there until someone found me.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 21:37:29 GMT

@San Antonio Gal The base of the portable phones hook into where our old regular landline was so I guess it's a type of landline.

We have used portable phones for years.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

BeautyLver — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 21:57:29 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 wrote:
@San Antonio Gal The base of the portable phones hook into where our old regular landline was so I guess it's a type of landline.

We have used portable phones for years.

Are you referring to cordless phones? if so, they are landlines.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

San Antonio Gal — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:19:41 GMT

Okay - so your land line is down until Wednesday and you don't get cell service where you live. I was confused when you said portable phones.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:33:38 GMT

@San Antonio Gal Our phones sit on a base unit. The base has a cord that plugs into the wall jack. The phone itself has no cord, you take the phone off the base to use it. It's very handy.

I can take the phone to any room.

The phone company is upgrading their lines to fiber optics. DD says we are getting one gigabyte of speed. Why the time lag is anybody's guess.

I have reached for that darn phone several times, oops, doesn't work. It's a pain.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

BeautyLver — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:49:01 GMT

@San Antonio Gal wrote:
Okay - so your land line is down until Wednesday and you don't get cell service where you live. I was confused when you said portable phones.

I was as well. Think she's referring to cordless. Which of course is landline.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

Jo1313 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:56:52 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 wrote:
DD went to Scranton do errands yesterday. It's 30 miles (one way) from us. She was hitting Wegmans too. I tried to call her to add something to the list. Phone wasn't working, it said No Line. We have portable phones. We also get no cell service here. We are between two hills here in Hooterville.

She got home and tried to figure out the problem. No go. Got back in the car and drove 24 miles round trip to Walmart and got new phones. 2 phones were $65 bucks. Back home, they didn't work. At this point she was uttering a few choice words.

Back in the car to drive to where she could get a signal on her cell to call Frontier about the phone. Our internet was working but not the phones. I waited and waited some more. Two hours later in she comes. She had to go almost to the town where Walmart is and she just came from. She knows she gets full bars at Dunkin to she parked there and called Frontier, was on hold for over an hour. They are putting in/switching to fiber optic stuff.

Tech coming Wednesday between 1 and 5 pm. Great.

So I will be alone for 12 hrs. Monday and Tuesday, part of Wed. with no phone. Hope there isn't a fire. DD said she will leave her cell. I guess 9 1 1 works even if you have no service.

I emailed people and said to call DD at work if they need to get hold of us.

I hate living in the country. It is so inconvient.

Hope it gets resolved without them charging you to come out.I don't have my home phone and internet with the same company as my cable.Spectrum(cable) was going to charge me $85 just to come out here..Ended up being a problem was was outside..some "beast" chewed through the wire on the pole..so they couldn't charge me..it wasn't in my house! The Spectrum guy said my cable wires should be all changed..the are old..they will stay this way..I'm not paying to change them. There are so many cable wires in this house from the previous owner..they will never find them all.
GL..
@CrazyKittyLvr2 ..I thought I was the only one who lived in Hooterville! My Hooterville is in upstate NY..LOL I hate it here too!..My niece calls me Lisa Douglas..I haven't had to climb a pole to make a phone call..LOL..I'm a NYC girl!

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

bikerbabe — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:56:54 GMT

I think I’m understanding what you have is a regular landline phone that is cordless. Most people just refer to them as cordless phones.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

San Antonio Gal — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:25:23 GMT

Hopefully Wednesday will get here quick enough for you @CrazyKittyLvr2 . Hopefully you won't ever have to deal with no phone service again. Take care.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:36:48 GMT

@Jo1313 While I didn't grow up in a place anywhere near the size and population of NYC we had actual sidewalks and street lights. I grew up in a suburb of a larger town in central PA.

You could walk to a grocery store. We didn't get cows in our front yard. lol At night we could hear traffic and occasional train. The silence at night here was jarring. And no street lights, it is pitch black.

Also, the whole town's hobby is gossip. Gotta love small towns.

I can't believe I've mnaged almost 57 years here. Yikes!!

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

Desertdi — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:57:50 GMT

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:
@CrazyKittyLvr2

With technology, it's always something, isn't it?

While I'm sure your living in the wilderness has its benefits, I'm not sure having bad phone service is a good idea.

Any idea how much a satellite phone costs?

Does your mail carrier experience any issues when delivering mail?

@Tinkrbl44 @CrazyKittyLvr2

I have a big gripe with "technology", too! I am in a mountainous area of Phoenix...smack dab in the middle of the city. I have wired cable for TV, internet and phone...

If the power, internet, or phone service goes out, it's like living on the moon. My cel is no good to use in the house, because the signal is blocked by the mountains. I have been close to having a panic attack(!!!) Such is life... di

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 01:21:02 GMT

@Desertdi Our power goes out frequently. I would have made a lousy pioneer. I like running water, indoor plumbing etc.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 01:23:45 GMT

@bikerbabe Sorry, cordless. My pea brain is not working right. I have slept all of five disconnected hours over the last 2 nights. I'm lucky I know my own name.

Stupid insomnia.

Re: We Have No Phone Until Wednesday.

sunshine45 — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 01:44:28 GMT

i am very old school i guess.

i would not be without a landline or a cell phone.

its nice to have options.