Need Land Line Telephone in Order to Fix DSL

[jwan24]

My Internet was out when I got home last night so I called Verizon to see if there were any outages. After going through the usual tests, the customer service representative still couldn't figure out what was going on with my line, so he asked if I had a land line telephone to plug into the wall to see if I can check for a dial tone. First of all, I haven't owned a land line telephone in over five years. Second of all, it was past 10 o'clock at night and it's not like I could just knock on a neighbor's door and ask. When I asked if they could just send a technician out to check the line, they said no and insisted that I needed to find a land line telephone to check for a dial tone. I asked my friends in the closest proximity to me and even went so far as to go to my local drug store and Home Depot to see if a store might have a cheap telephone I can buy, use then return but to no avail. 

I think it is absolutely ridiculous, in this day and age, that Verizon has no better solution for me other than to "find a land line connected telephone" in order to fix my DSL. At this point, since none of my friends seem to have a phone I can borrow, I'll need to buy a telephone that I don't need just so Verizon will finally send a technician out to check what's wrong.

No real solutions until I find a phone, so I'm just complaining here since there doesn't seem to be a formal process for filing customer complaints. If anyone does know of any, please share so I can find the appropriate venue for my complaint. Thanks!

[smith6612]

They're giving you the runaround to get this issue resolved. A landline phone is only good for checking DSL lines if Verizon actively puts a signal over the line even if you don't have voice service. This "tone" could be anything from a dial tone that goes to a fast busy when you try to dial, or a plain old fast busy. Even then, it could just be silence.

What exactly is going on with the Internet? Is your DSL light solid on the modem?