MIA

[Tillaway]

I have been missing in action for a while.  My home computer/phone line is not working well so internet surfing has come to a halt.  I have to post from work now. :  Anyway have fun, I can't be around much until I get it fixed and that will be quite some time down the road.  Lack of funds you know. :

[Jeff]

Whats broke?  Maybe one of us has some parts laying around.

[Frank_Pender]

I could come down and you could everything all written up and I could have Alice scan it for you and placeit on the Forum.   

[Tillaway]

Phone line, lots of noise tried replacing the modem and ISP but no change.  Sprint is the local carrier and is about worthless.   >:(  Not sure if its my line or theirs though.  Really slow connection speeds, 4kbs, and dropped every few minutes. >:(  Works better in the morning though.  Its somewhat usable till noon or so.

Thanks for the offer Frank, it would be kinda slow though and costly. ;D

I will not be able to get back to this until next week.  I have to leave town for a few days.

[Frank_Pender]

Take care and have fun on the out of towner.  I do need to get down and see ya when you get back.  Give me a ring some evening and we can hook up and go see one of your job sites. ;D

[Murf]

A noisey line sounds like a wet spot in the cable somewhere.

There's a few retired ding-alings, errr, I mean Telephone Company Linesmen around the forum, but I think they're all in Florida.  :

Maybe will run that far away from a Hurry-cane and fix that wet pair for you.  :D

[DanG]

Tillaway, I'll try to help ya straighten yer line out.  First, ya gotta find out if ya got a "protector" or a "NID" on the side of yer house.  If it's a NID (Network Interface Device), you can test your line yourself.  The NID will have a little cord inside that plug's into a jack just like the one inside that your phone plugs into.  You can unplug that little cord and that seperate's all of your stuff from their stuff.  Then plug your phone, or better yet, your computer into that jack and you're connected straight to their line.  If it still messes up, it is their problem. If not, you have a problem with the wiring in your house.  Look at your phone bill and see if there is a charge for "Inside Wire Maintenance".  If there is, they are responsible for that, too.

Your phone line is classified as a "voice grade" circuit.  As such, you are only guaranteed a connect speed of 9.6kbps, but you are only getting half of that, so they'll have to fix it.  Do your phones in the house work ok?  If you can only get 4kbps, you should have a real hard time talking on those lines, and they won't ring properly.  It is strange that they work better in the cool part of the day, as it is usually the other way around.  While you're poking around, check for spider webs and dead frogs, etc, on the wiring.  I had a problem recently and it was a little frog that got fried on the terminals.  I guess he just got lucky and touched both sides as a call was coming in, and the ringing current zapped him. :D  Send me a PM when you get back, and let me know how it works out.  I'll be glad to help in any way I can.  Don't be too hard on those phone guys.  Your area used to be served by Centel, and I know some of the guys that worked out there.  We had a good little phone company until Sprint gobbled us up.  They got rid of a lot of employees and ALL of the retirement benefits! >:(  Those are some good men, but they are stretched about as thin as they can get.  As far as the company goes, hold their feet to the fire and make them provide the service you are paying for!

[DonE911]

DanG gave great info.....  The fried frog usually shut down my well pump :D

I had the same problem you have a few years ago.  I ended up replacing the line from the box on the side of the house all the way to the computer ( including the jack ) and everyting went back to normal.  I just left the old line in place and disconected it.   I used about 40 feet of telephone line and a new jack and I know it cost me less than $30.  Later I ran some new phone lines to places that needed jacks and didn't have them.... again $30 or less.  Why wait for the phone company? 

Run a short test line from the box on your house to the computer.  Just run it in a window or a door to start with.  See if all is good... if not you know its not in your house lines and its got to be something beyond your control... you can then show the phone company its their problem.....  don't forget to insist on a discount on your bill for the problems they have caused.....  they have caused you to miss valuable information ;)  This information could have made you money ;)  If they can't help you right away you can always switch to another carrier.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Try to find out who is Mr. BIG.

  Ed had some problems at his shop a couple years ago. Got tired of messin with "Clerks" and got the name and # of Mr. BIG. He's in Miami.  ;)

  Now, we mention Mr. BIG by name, and you never seen such butt haulin to get the problem fixed.  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

  We were at the camp one day, and some Bellsouth boys stopped at the mill. We were discussin things and mentioned Mr. BIG's name. One guy says " That the #2 guy in charge of Bellsouth". WELL, DUHHHH  Even 400 miles away, he strikes fear in the eyes of the troops.  ;D ;D ;) ;) :D :D :D

[Jeff]

I had a durn chipmonk last week chew off our main phone line into where the computers are. It aint an easy run for a new wire.  We are without the regular phone and no answering machine for the time being. We have a temp phone hooked directly to the box, and have our cells.  Its really been rather quite around here lately with no telemarketers (that aint supposed to call but DO!)

[Gilman]

www.squirrelnotcall.gov ?

[Junior437t]

I had problems with slow dialup with Verizon. Of couse a service guy came out and said everything was "OK". I ran into a friend that works for them and he told me to call in every time it rained and complain about "noise on the line". It had always quit raining by the time they made it.  It took about 15 calls but they finally got it "fixed". I went from 26.4 to around 48. It was worth the calls. I am the only customer or the last 1 mile of line so they were not real concerned to start with. When I started logging names and dates of the call and mentioned the Public Service Commission, they sent 2 guys out and they spent the day and it was fixed better than before. The service guys were always sympathetic but, like a lot of other jobs, they are "overbooked". Expected to do about 12 or 14 hours work in 8.

[D._Frederick]

When we got are second computer so that we could get on the net, my son would use it in the evenings and I would play with it during the day. I could never get it to work on a warm days. We had the phone people out and they said the problem was in the house wiring. Since we have two phone lines on the place, I ran a cable between the buildings, with the second line there was no problem. I called the phone teck. out again and showed him how one line would work and the other not.

The temp problem turned out to be that they have substation equipment in a metal cabinet along side of the road. An amplifer had problems as the sun heated up this cabinet. The tech. put in a new pc board, end of problem.

[DanG]

Harold, there's a bigger guy than that available at the touch of a button...The Public Service Commission.  They strike fear in the hearts of local managers, because one of the stipulations of their "bonus package" is a low rate of "Commission Complaints." ;D :D

Don, he can't switch carriers because Sprint is his LEC(Local Exchange Carrier).  He is stuck with that.  There are ways to force them to fix the problem, such as what I posted above.  However, they only have to guarantee 9.6kbps.  Most of the guys will make it as good as they can, though, and you should get a decent connect speed.  But, there is always the guy way down at the end of the line that can't do any better than 10k, and they ain't gonna spend a few hundred thousand to boost him up.

[Fla._Deadheader]

DanG, I youster hand out the phone number of the PSC when I worked for the Power Co.  :D :D :D
Customers get ripped all the time and I don't like that.  >:( >:(

  Don't worry, Joe Lacher really can " Git-R-Dunn". Don't mess with his seccatary neither.  ;) ;D ;D

[DanG]

Ol' Joe can't do me no good, unless he know's a good fishin' hole.  We ain't got BellSouth around here.  Our local carrier is TDS, known locally as, " The Tedious Telephone Cumpny." ;) :D :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

Sorry DanG. Maybe Joe has a twin Cousin overseein TDS.