Landline Phone service Goes Out All the Time

[VeriznCustomer]

I bought a house around February or March and have consistently had intermittant phone outages.

When I first moved in, I got no dial tone, but a very loud buzzing on the line. I filed a ticket, and spoke to a technician. He said that a connection a few miles from my house was corroded and he was going to replace it. This fixed the problem, temporarily.

Since then, I get the same symptoms from time to time and the problems "fix themselves" usually within 24 hours.

I have filed repair requests online when it happens, but the tech isn't scheduled to show up for almost a week into the future and the problem goes away before he even shows up.

Just yesterday, my phone was out for several hours, I scheduled an appointment 5 days later (the earliest available) but it fixed itself that evening.

Now the phone is not working again.

Everytime this happens, I have to horse around on the verizon webpage and go through the " home phone trouble shooter." I work most days out of my home, so a loss of my phone damages my business and costs money.

Is there a way to get Verizon to figure this out & fix it for me without them charging me for visits from a technician and without closing the case as soon as the problem goes away? I'm on the verge of just giving up my landline altogether and going 100% cellular.

Also: even when I am able to make calls, I often will have extremely loud buzzing on the line.

[VeriznCustomer]

It snowed here yesterday, so your phone service is out yet again. No one responded to my last post or to the support ticket that I filed.

[ElizabethS]

This is a peer to peer support forum. You cannot reach Verizon techs  here. If you have an open ticket, please contact Verizon and check on its status.

[kdk213]

Same thing happening here since April 2014.  Phone out 4 times since then THAT WE KNOW OF.   Those calling us get a busy signal so just think we are on the phone.  Have told friends and family to use our cell numbers if get busy signal on landline. 

Verizon promises 99.9 % reliability but does not stand by that.  Today in frustration I called to speak to someone directly.  They admitted there are "issues" with the lines in our area, outdated infrastructure that is hard to repair.  Suggested work around to the problem is using their home wireless service...the point of the landline is that it would work in situations where internet phone or wireless phones would not work...so much for that guarantee.

As you noted, it seems when the weather changes we have the problem, lots of rain or change in temp.  Since our area does not have FIOS either it seems  Verizon has no intention of reliable service to our area, the black hole of NYS.

[DJToman]

I have copper service (POTS) on Martha's Vineyard, MA. Same experience here. Whenever there's a weather event, we are treated to days of no service. So much for 911 service.
Right now, if I make an outbound call, it's dropped within a minute..It seems clear that Verizon does not want users on POTS. They want you on wireless.
I hate Comcast and resist going to cable-based telephone service, but, aside from wireless, it's the only option here.

[qdemon1]

I have experienced the same sporadic outtages with my POTS line and DSL service but last week the line suddenly went completely dead.  I called Verizon and went through the "guided troubleshooting" process, only to find that there was no signal at all at the NID.  I scheduled a repair appointment and resigned myself to going several days without phone or internet access but when I went online at work to check the status, I found that there was no mention of any problem with my service.  When I called and finally got a person, I was told that Verizon had decided that the problem was "fixed" and had canceled the repair without notifying me.  Huh?

According to the representative, if their "line test" isn't conclusive, they call back and cancel the visit.  I reminded her that no calls could be made or received because the line is completely DEAD.  The Verizon rep then offered to send a technician out and charge me $91 per hour, even thoough the problem is definitely in their equipment, outside my home.  She insisted that everything "checks out" to the locked Verizon side of the NID, therefore it's not their problem -- even if the problem is inside the NID box itself..  I reminded her that the NID and everything it it belongs to Verizon and that it had been installed by their technicians.  Since I have no access to the wiring or equipment inside the box, why should I have to pay for Verizon to come out and service its own equipment?  ARE THESE PEOPLE INSANE??

Coincidentally, everything was working fine until about a month ago, when FIOS suddenly became available in my neighborhood.  The last time I called about a service outtage, instead of fixning the problem the rep tried to sell me a FIOS contract.  I was seriously considering making a switch at the end of my current contract but now I am thoroughly disgusted with Verizon.  How can I trust them to provide high tech communication services when they won't even support the ordinary phone service that I am already paying for?  Whatever happened to holding onto your loyal, paying customers?  I am not a  fan of Comcast but I bet they'll be glad to take my money.

[LawrenceC]

Hi qdemon,

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you. Please go to your profile page for the forum and look at the top of the middle column where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name beside your post, or at the top left of this page underneath the title of the board.

Under "My Support Cases" you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. The title of your post is the link. This should be checked on a frequent basis, as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions. To ensure you know when they have responded to you, at the top of your support case there is a drop down menu for support case options. Open that and choose "subscribe". Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.

[qdemon1]

More of the same lip service but no action.  I tried scheduling another repair online.  We'll see if anyone shows up this time.  I expect my bill to be adjusted accordingly.

[qdemon1]

When I got home this afternoon, I was pleased to see that my service had finally been restored after 8 days.  The techniican was scheduled to arrive this morning (8 AM) so I assumed that the repairs had already been made.  But now I see online that the ticket is still open and the time has been changed to 8 PM.  If the technician didn't make the repair call already how did my service get restored?  More of Verizon's "reindeer games".  Truly amazing. 

[DJToman]

The problen with Verizon's copper servce appears to stem from the fact that your twisted pair line no longer, as it once did, goes to the central office (CO), where it used to terminate in weatherproof conditions and had access to a robust battery supply, There are local switches that consolidate many lines into a few  lines that then run back to the CO. Those subswitches are out in the open, and are susceptible to local conditions such as lightning strikes and other weather effects. The associated local battery supplies are not robust. 

After wrestling with the problems experienced by me and a few of my neighbors recently, the local technician decided to simply eliminate the local switch. He bridged my line and probably a few of my neighbors directly to the CO. 

Given that many people are giving up copper service and moving either to wireless service or VoIP via an internet carrier, the tradeoff is likely to be a good one, since there is no longer a large number of lines being multiplexed into a few. It's now few on few. 

Bottom line is that my POTS now works reliably For how long, we shall see. 

[qdemon1]

Well that didn't last very long.  The Verizon technician showed up about 6:30 pm or so on Friday evening.  He had been called at the last minute to make sure my line had a dial tone, and was surprised to find that he line was already working.  After checking the NID, he asked if there were any other issues, but when I told him about my intermittent DSL service, he informed me that another tech would have to fix that because he was there under orders only to restore my dial tone and to sell me FIOS.  I admonished him that it was impossible to sign up if I had no telephone or Internet access.

Anyway, the line continued to work, even though my Internet speed was severely throttled, until sometime Sunday morning.  After battling with the stupid automated telephone system, I was eventually able to speak to an actual person.  "Barbara" was very professional and actually listened to my complaint.  She apologized for the service interruptions and for the questionable behavior of the other Customer Service rep who had refused to send a repairman.  She agreed that the problem with my line was clearly outside my home, and is solely Verizon's responsibility, and promised to add that information to the repair order.  The earliest available appointment for repairing the line is Thursday.  That means that I will have been completely without service for a total of at least sixteen days.

[qdemon1]

Well, Verizon finally did repair my line.  No one came to my home but my service was restored.  That would indicate that either the problem was located somewhere else in their network (like I told them), or that Verizon deliberately interfered with my service to "entice" me to switch to their FIOS product.  Bad move, either way.

Now I have to fight with them over the bill.  They have offered a $5 credit to compensate me for being without service for half a month.  Fat chance.  This is why Verizon cannot trusted to operate without government oversight and regulation as a public utility, regardless of the state of their technology.

[franktexas]

We have had the same problem - intermittent service on our copper landline going back at least 1 year. Almost always happens after several inches of rain. Usually DSL line with Verizon still works but not always. Our area has underground phone lines and so far every time a technician comes out, the problem has been  with Verizon, not in our house wiring even though the test indicates it is in our house line. Most times, the problem corrects itself when the rain stops. Frustrating, I wish we could "schedule" a repair request ahead of time for the technician to show up when it's raining as by the time the technician shows up a week later, the problem self corrects. I have a current repair request scheduled for 12/24, (request put in 12/19 after a 3" rain),   I will likely cancel unless it rains as the line currently is working,

[manhattanNYC1]

QDEMON, if you think you have FiOs in your area, you can switch your cooper line to FiOs tel. landline only, keep the old plan you have of the landline, not the FiOs plan.   only the landline,   not the FiOs pkg.  no FiOs TV and FiOs Internet..

[qdemon1]

Um, what?

[SPYDR]

same problem here, was told copper line service will be in and out, when working there will be much interference. I purchased new phone because i still had internet service. Have not been able to use phone over 1 month. Verizon still billing me for phone service.  There are countless people ( 10,000 100.000 ++) ?? with same problem. N ot only this area but most likely accross the country at different times depending on location verizon change over is being done,.

[ElizabethS]

Hello SPYDR

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you.

Please go to your profile page for the forum, and look in the middle, right at the top where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name beside your post, or at the top left of this page underneath the title of the board.

Under “My Support Cases” you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. This should be checked on a frequent basis as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions.

To ensure you know when they have responded to you, at the top of your support case there is a drop down menu for support case options. Open that and choose "subscribe".

Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.