US Telco Support → Verizon → Verizon DSL > no NID!

no NID!

OK, so I'm getting ready to rewire the house home-run style for the DSL when I go to find the NID box on the outside of the house... and there isn't one there. The wires come straight from the pole into the house and then into this black block with 4 screw terminals. Has anyone else found out they don't have an NID and was it hard to get Verizon to come out and put one in? Thanks.

I had the very samething at my house...called tech support to report a connection problem and the tech that came out installed a NID in the basement for me and included a home-run

When you called, did you specifically request an NID be installed along with the homerun wiring? or did the tech just do it for you. also did you actually have a connection problem? or did you just want the NID installed. The lines haven't been there that long that it was before NIDs, an NID should really have been installed before.

Verizon will happily come out to install an NID for you for free. Without the NID, they can't tell you to "test at the NID" before sending out a field technician for a line problem. Which means they can't charge you if the problem turns out to be on your side. With the NID in place, you're expected to determine if the problem is on your side or the telco side by testing at the NID before they send out a field technician.

You might even get the tech to include a modular DSL splitter inside the NID, which filters a lot better than the in-line microfilters.

Slightly different, but related question.

I don't have a NID either. What I do have however is the "grey box" described above, but right next to it (on the inside wall of my garage) is a normal phone jack which I *assume* could be considered a test jack. My home was built ca. 1981.

Might I still be able to get a free NID/splitter anyway?

My home also has two unused "home business" lines coming into it from the previous owner, so connecting one of them as a home run line would be easy.

Note that I have no issues at this point (and really don't want to get any...lol! ).

Side note - I heard something about that technically, Verizon can't bill you for phone service if you don't have a NID...some issue about getting everyone switched over to them, etc... Any truth to this?

From my limited experience...

That black block with the 4 screws was the standard "interface" between the customer's inside wiring and the outside public network back in the days when Ma Bell owned everything. When Ma Bell was disassembled by Judge Green, customers were given ownership of their inside wiring, but something more substantive had to be established as the dividing point. NIDs as we now know them are the answer to that. Sometimes the NID is inside your house, sometimes outside. There are a variety of NID styles. Sometimes the test jack is inside the box, sometimes outside the box. New construction since 1980ish always includes a NID. Old houses with original blocks were not upgraded en-mass, but only as needed when phone problems occur. So, even though it has been 25 years, if you (or a previous owner) haven't had a phone problem, the old black block is still your demark point. But upon the first problem, the field tech will install a new NID.

As for the veracity of the notion that Verizon loses billing rights for NID-less customers, dunno, never heard that, but if I were a regulator, that's one way to get Verizon's attention - take away their revenue stream if they don't correct every single instance of whatever is perceived as a problem.

dw

There have been many issues with the lines in this house, and I don't know if they were dealt with by a Verizon tech or an electrician. I did find an NID-type box on the inside of the basement, but nothing was connected to it, absoultely nothing. I'll be calling Verizon today to come install the NID and hopefully I'll get the DSL splitter installed as well.

on a side note, with the mention of ole ma bell, there is still a ma bell phone hardwired into the wall, that and one other phone are the only phones working right now, that will tell you how old the phone wiring is.

Slightly OT but not to far, I hope.
A wise old mentor I had the pleasure to work with a long time ago told me "If you are going to design and build a machine for your use, build it as strong and reliable as you can. The initial cost is small compared to the 20 year life cycle cost."
This is what WE did for the Bell System. They made the very best because they knew they owned it and would have to maintain it. A truck roll to replace a broken phone would very quickly exceed the cost of a more reliable phone.
Compare this to the "disposable" phones you can get for $15.00 now. You own them so if they fail, you pay not the Phone company.

We now return control of this thread back to the topic.....

I had a DSL problem and the tech just went ahead and installed the homerun along with the NID

yeah, so i called verizon repair to get an NID installed on the side of the house. the woman on the phone said "no problem" The repair guy comes out to the house and tells me "oh, i can't do that, i only repair things not install them." then he goes on to tell me that even if he could install the NID, he'd have to charge for running the wire into the house, and he couldn't install a dsl splitter in the NID. So he sugguested I call verizon DSL to have them install the NID, that way they could install the splitter too.

I call the DSL line, explain to the woman at tech support that I want an NID installed with a DSL splitter, she transfers me to billing, where they tell me it would be $199 to install the NID and splitter. I yelled saying the NID is supposed to be free and she's like "even if you already had the NID, the splitter would be $199. so she says if I want the NID to call the phone company tech support, which i have done already. she transfers me to them anyway, finally someone who understands what i'm talking about picks up, and says "i'd love to help you with that, but i can't, you'll have to talk to the billing department and tell them you want an NID installed."

He transfers me, I get a woman who tries to charge me $35 for the NID install. I explain to her that its supposed to be free and she goes "is this a new house?" and I go "no, its been here since the 60s." and she goes "oooh, its free then."

so I have an appointment on tuesday for someone to come and install the NID, what do you think my chance is of getting a splitter installed for free with the NID? Also, I won't be at the house, I have work, my girlfriend will be home, do you think she will have to say anything besides "please install a splitter while you're installing the NID"?

bot a good shot at a splitter they can only install them if they are on a dsl trouble issued by vol

hmmm, so what problem could I tell the DSL people that will get them to come out. Will they come out to do anything if my DSL is only going 768kbps? I'm pretty sure its supposed to be 1.5mbps, and I think the old phone cable from the 80s might be causing such bad signal.

it would probably have to be a sync or throughput issue

I actually heard it from an Verizon Phone Line Tech while he was working on a neighbor's line...

Ha! The first tech gave you the ol' run-a-round. Those old "protector blocks," as they were called, get noisy over time because they used carbon surge protectors. The new NIDs use gas discharge tubes. If the tech has a splitter on his truck he will install it if you ask him to. Likely, however, he will not carry one on his truck.
--
"Remember, Comrade, people who are willing to destroy an efficient telephone system may not be playing with a full deck."