Grah.

[camwyn]

Verizon saga

Verizon claims they turned on my service on Friday 4 February at 10 AM. I get no dial tone at the apartment. I have used an old phone with a cord to test this, so battery charging is not an issue. I plugged in a partly charged new phone yesterday and got nothing. I checked for dial tone on two separate jacks using the cord phone and got nothing. I dialed my old number from my cell phone and got the message saying that the number had been changed to $NEW_NUMBER, which is what I requested. I then dialed $NEW_NUMBER and got ringing, but no answer. About six or ten rings in I got sent to Verizon residential voice mail, which is another service I requested.

I tried dialing this number from work, and got rings as well. I did not stick around for the voice mail.

Last night (7 February 2005, around 7 PM) I plugged in the new telephone and let it charge for several hours. Then I picked up my cellular phone and dialed $NEW_NUMBER. The cell phone got ringing, but the telephone plugged into the wall did not ring no matter how long I waited.

I called Verizon this morning at 800-427-8977. I was told that this was probably a problem with the jacks and that it would cost $99 a visit, but Verizon didn't care if someone else fooled with the wiring, so if I had a handy relative or a building superintendent then it would be all right to let them do the check up. I called building management around 10 AM at $MANAGEMENT_NUMBER. The girl there said that as far as she knew, they didn't do anything whatsoever with the phone wires. That was the phone company's responsibility.

I called my father's cell phone but got his voice mail. (Dad is a former employee of The Telephone Company, from the old days when there was a The Telephone Company.) I left a message.

It is now 10:56 AM. I am going to call 800-427-8977 again.

Got an automated spiel about the possibility of a box called a Network Interface Device in the closet, which can apparently be used for testing. Will try that when I get home. Tech has been scheduled to come out tomorrow between 8 AM and 12 noon anyway even though it will cost $99. bugger.

Comments

[akawil]

Yeah, that should be the thing. Is that what all your other phone plugs connect to?

I'm not sure if that's actually the "Inside Network Interface" according to strict telco-speak, but that's always the point I've tested when I've had troubles.

[camwyn]

No. That's mounted on the wall; there's no box, and I'm not sure whether any other cables come out of it. There is a box in the closet and a box that I think is just the security system in a different closet. My father saw the swingy thing and thought it was just a childproofed phone jack. It really doesn't look much like any kind of access point, but it's mounted on the apartment wall that has the Outside World on the other side (rather than another apartment) so I dunno.

[akawil]

Well, check that jack to see if you've got dial tone there, at the same time you're checking jacks in the closet looking for RJ-11 plugs.

[camwyn]

That's the one I tried first, actually- it's the only one immediately visible on the lower level of the apartment.

*thinks for a minute*

I believe the wire for the jack in the loft runs down the wall to that opening, actually.