JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
 ·SONIC.NET
| Kicking AT&T - how to get your line repaird?
Sigh. I've been in bad shape since last friday's storms. I lost dialtone and sync during the storm. They came back (sorta) a bit later, and now I only have dialtone and sync during the day, when its dry and warm. AT&T has been out twice, this last time (yesterday) they made it MUCH WORSE - or its just the fog - at any rate I'm posting this from my mobile phone - sigh.
After two hours on the web and trying various 800 numbers, I finally talked to a (non-helpful) human being and they're going to roll yet another truck in the middle of the day when the line is fine, so they can "fix" it again.
I have a ticked opened with sonic (since last week - schettj) but apparently you guys can't kick AT&T any harder then I can - that's what you told me this morning when I called.
I sure hope AT&T can get the line fixed. I can't have DSL 50% of the time (only daylight/DRY DSL - hey it's a new product!) and dialtone is kinda handy. Sonic doesn't control the wires their service is delivered over (which is really the only shortfall of Sonic... there's a limit to what they can fix.) I'm just ranting, not really expecting anything here. Phew, I feel better. Not really, but I'm kinda helpless to do anything else but rant.
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs:
| If your voice service is out for more than a few days (has it been more than a week now?), and you don't feel like they're being responsive, you might consider filing an informal complain at the CPUC. You can do that here:
»www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/forms/Compla···aint.htm
-Dane |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·SONIC.NET
| its been up and down, Dane, but since the AT&T Guy came out yesterday afternoon and "fixed" it, it's be horrible - much worse then before. Much MUCH worse. Before, it was up during the day, down at night - you know, when its colder and wetter - now it's just plane down (still) with dialtone every now and then, and sync every now and then...
Yep - this is really the problem with telephony-based solutions. When something goes wrong with the wires, you're stuck dealing with MaBell, and MaBell don't care no matter what name is painted on the side of the truck.
They're supposed to come out tomorrow - the line is so totally messed up now, there is some hope it will still be borked tomorrow when they come back for the third attempt.
I sure hope they can get my line back up. If not, I'm going to end up losing my pots line, which means losing my DSL, which really is going to stink.
It's not looking good kids.
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·SONIC.NET
| reply to JohnInSJ
And yes, the sun comes out, and BAM line returns to normal. Ok, not really BAM, but Sun+30 minutes and then no static on the line, modem retrains to normal numbers. Sadly, I expect the AT&T Truck will arrive about this time tomorrow.
"Gee, your line seems fine to me." - then he'll go off and randomly push some wires around until he figures I think he's done something.... "OK, I adjusted the flux capacitor and did various other useless things that don't require any real work from me, you should be all set!" - sounds of AT&T truck burning rubber as it pulls away...
(I begin to scream into a nearby pillow)
Well, the summer drought is just a few months away I guess.
I tell ya, if Comcast every offers static IP addresses, or if Sonic can find a way to offer broadband over cable, I'm so gone from this telephone line from hell. Or if our climate changes and it rains more often 
Note for clarification - this has nothing to do with Sonic.net - they're stuck with AT&T just like me.
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·SONIC.NET
| reply to JohnInSJ
Update - yes, my sync has been good since late yesterday, when the line dried up...
Yes, the AT&T Truck showed up this morning, but in a stroke of great luck, it was a guy with Gray Hair (tm) - ie, someone who knew what they were doing. He knew I was fiber to the RT, knew that it could be a bad card at the RT, knew that twisting wires really wasn't gonna do it...
He's been working on it for an hour so far.
I'm very hopeful (posting via mobile phone)
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs: | Glad to hear it!
-Dane |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·SONIC.NET
| Well, good news (hopefully)
He confirmed an intermittent short on the pair somewhere between the pole at my house and the RT. So we're now off to wire repair, today or tomorrow, to try and find the short and fix it.
He was still reading the short today even though my sync has been good after things dried up - we both are hoping it will still be there when the wire guys finally arrive - kinda hoping for some rain now
Oh, and yay me, he reads the short even with the house unplugged, so they actually do have to fix it, they can't blame my house wiring - been there, done that.
So, still not fixed, but AT&T at least is still trying to get me fixed.
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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nccycle
I Scream Loudly
Premium
join:2003-01-09
Oakland, CA | I you thought about watering down the phone lines from your house to the RT so the wire repair are sure to find a problem  |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA | Yeah... my wife suggested that as well  I may have to if they can't find it, but I'm gonna need some extra hose |
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wa2ibm
Premium
join:2000-10-10
San Jose, CA
| reply to JohnInSJ
Hopefully you've had the wire cable guys from AT&T out and they've fixed your line by now. I had a similar problem here in San Jose. The initial repair guy came out to the house within a couple hours of my trouble report, only to determine that the problem was in their cabling and he had to turn it over to the cable department. Because of the backlog from the recent storms, it took them an additional 5 days to get out to fix the line.
The guy spent a couple of hours fixing the line and even removed a bridge tap along the way between me and the RT. |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·SONIC.NET
| said by wa2ibm  :Hopefully you've had the wire cable guys from AT&T out and they've fixed your line by now. Yep, yay! Finally.
Two visits from the wire guys (seems like none of the various parts of AT&T believe each other - everyone verifies it's *not* the 12' of wire between the pole and the house on their first visit) and things are back to normal. Even with the wind and rain, so it appears to be really really fixed.
Oh, I was having nightmares. |
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