Landline phones - Page 3

ceekay · ‎03-12-2010

@bargainsgirl - we still have a landline. We have Verizon. Until about 2 years ago, it was all copper (from the street to the house and in the house). That was good because unless the phone lines got knocked down we still had phone service in a power outage. But Verizon made us change to fiber to the house. It is still copper wiring inside. Now we have a box that holds 8 D batteries that we can use to power the phones if the electricity goes out. We don't get many "real" calls (and don't have caller ID) but I remember after 9-11 when all the cell phones were a mess because of everyone trying to use them. Our landline worked great then. I keep that in mind when I think about ditching the landline. So, you may want to check with Verizon - I suspect they will suggest FIOS (which is NOT what we have), but you never know until you ask. Good luck!

@drizzellla - about 5 years ago we had similar issues to yours with static and such. I could even listen to Spanish speaking radio on my landline phone so clearly there were crossed wires somewhere. The tech came (on several occasions) and the problem was always "down the street". So not the wires to or in our house. He commented that he was one of the few copper guys left so I think there are probably even fewer now as he was near retirement age. Hope you get your problems resolved, the static and dead silence are annoying to say the least. I did get a credit on my bill for days the phone was unuseable.

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

@drizzellla - about 5 years ago we had similar issues to yours with static and such. I could even listen to Spanish speaking radio on my landline phone so clearly there were crossed wires somewhere. The tech came (on several occasions) and the problem was always "down the street". So not the wires to or in our house. He commented that he was one of the few copper guys left so I think there are probably even fewer now as he was near retirement age. Hope you get your problems resolved, the static and dead silence are annoying to say the least. I did get a credit on my bill for days the phone was unuseable.

Funny you should reply today.

We just had the tech leave. He fixed our landline phone. We haven't had a working landline since August 21. He just left minutes ago and we already had 3 spam calls.

Why Oh Why did we bother to have the tech come out?

It wasn't easy. The first time my husband called to try and get service, he was on hold over an hour. Never got to talk to anyone, human or computer. He gave up.

The second time he called he was on hold for half an hour. And spent the next half an hour unplugging phones and taking down our reproduction rotary phone and plugging all back in again.

We have FIOS and the problem was in the FIOS control panel.

FYI - The first thing the Verizon tech said to my husband was $70 to walk in your house and $100 to touch a line. So if the problem had been in the house, I guess we would have been charged $170 plus whatever else might be the problem.

But our FIOS control panel is outside so there is no charge.

ceekay · ‎03-12-2010

@drizzellla - glad you got it fixed and I hope it stays fixed! We actually have inside wire maintenance on our plan. In some recent change of service we were grandfathered in so still have it if needed. In the 34 years we have been in this house, there was only one time shortly after we moved in that the tech spent some time up in the attic cleaning up ugly wiring. House was built in 1968 and wiring is antique by now. Any other problems (and there have only been a few) were outside the home.

Funny about your junk call. I ported my mom's old phone number from her landline to a Tracfone when she moved last year. She had had the phone number for close to 60 years and we were worried we had not gotten her new number to everyone. One day she had 94 spam calls. I turned the phone off. Could you imagine having your phone ring 94 times in one day for junk calls??? And she is on the Do Not Call registry. :-)

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

We have used CenturyLink for our landline phone and high speed internet for probably 25 years. Very. Few if any problems ever. We pay about $90 a month for it.

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

@ceekay

Our 4 set cordless phones are several years old. With ours we have AutoBlock, the phone does not ring, and it holds up to 1,000 blocked calls. I am sure the newer phones have this feature, and might even hold more blocked numbers. Ours have yet to reach even close to 1 000. If the caller's name is not in your directory, your phone will not ring.

Auto block is an Option, your can turn it On or Off, that is a choice at all times. We have had up to 20+ blocked calls in 1 day, and the phone did not ring 1 time. Just sayin, the phones are out there!

hckynut 🇺🇸

hckynut(john)

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

believe it or not we have two landline phones via xfinitity.

one is used for personal and a number we have had for decades.

the other is a business phone and we have had it for two decades.

********************************************
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

ceekay · ‎03-12-2010

@hckynutjohn - thanks for the tip! (not able to give you a heart, but if I could I would)

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

@ceekay wrote:
@drizzellla - glad you got it fixed and I hope it stays fixed! We actually have inside wire maintenance on our plan. In some recent change of service we were grandfathered in so still have it if needed. In the 34 years we have been in this house, there was only one time shortly after we moved in that the tech spent some time up in the attic cleaning up ugly wiring. House was built in 1968 and wiring is antique by now. Any other problems (and there have only been a few) were outside the home.

Funny about your junk call. I ported my mom's old phone number from her landline to a Tracfone when she moved last year. She had had the phone number for close to 60 years and we were worried we had not gotten her new number to everyone. One day she had 94 spam calls. I turned the phone off. Could you imagine having your phone ring 94 times in one day for junk calls??? And she is on the Do Not Call registry. :-)

NOOOOOO!

Guess what!

Got a spam call at 9:01 this morning. I drove my husband to the hospital to have a procedure done. So we were gone much of the day.

Just discovered - WE HAVE NO DIAL TONE. This is ridiculous. My poor husband has to spend hours on the phone again?

Really why do we have a landline? We get so many spam calls a day. It is not worth this mess.

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

havent been able to give up our landlines and they became even more important during COVID when i was doing a lot of work from home.

i dont like giving out my cell phone number to everyone.

we have our "landlines" bundled with our xfinity service. we actually have two. i have had those numbers for many years now.

********************************************
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein