Callers tell me they can't get through

[Momika21]

I frequently hear from people who tell me that they tried calling me and can't get through.

We were away on vacation this week and I got an email from my son's principal telling me she tried calling and couldn't get through. I tried calling from my cell phone repeatedly the following day and I couldn't get through either. I can't remember the exact wording of the message I received, but it wasn't my voice mail, and was more along the lines of implying that my number was not in service.

This went on for hours. Then suddenly it started working again. There was no power failure. Since we weren't home, it coudn't have been that a phone was off the hook or anything. I can't imagine what the problem is. I'm sure if I call customer service they will tell me that my line is working now and therefore there isn't anything they can do.

I'm tired of missing calls.

Any ideas?

[VZ_Brian]

It would help to know what the message says, please post if it recurs.  Are you a FiOS customer, or do you have standard Verizon service?  If it happens again, take a phone to the ONT (for FiOS) or the NID (for standard Verizon).  These are both supplied by Verizon for customer testing purposes.  Plug your phone in at the test port of one of these devices, make sure that you have dial tone.  If you do, try calling your home phone from your cell phone to see if it goes through.  The purpose here is to determine if the trouble is being cause by inside equipment, or outside equipment.  I hope this helps. 

[Momika21]

It's FiOS. And it's totally intermittent. I could try and try for a month and not be able to reproduce it, but it'll happen again. And again. And again. I'll keep trying to see if I can capture the exact message.

I don't know what ONT or NID are. Can you please explain?

[VZ_Brian]

So if you are a FiOS customer, then you have an ONT that was installed (except in some cases if you live in an apartment building) on the day of your FiOS installation.  It is either off-white or gray, and it is the unit where your FiOS outside wire connects to your inside home wiring.  You may need a flat-head screwdriver to access the ONT.  In there, you should find your phone test jacks.  There will be either 2 or 4.  You should try them all.