As I mentioned to TenMile in comments to last night's (October 28th) report, I lost phone service not internet service. In the past I would have lost both since it was dial-up connection but in August, I signed up for their DSL service and got a faster connection. Don't know how that works on the old copper lines and it's still slower than the fiber optics carrier we've got at the Aerie--abouth 10x slower--but it's much better than dial-up. The rural phone company hasn't gotten around to running fiber optics which could also carry TV as it does at the Aerie. I hear they're waiting for some kind of gov't subsidies but are shedding customers left and right to cellular phones and the DISH Network. Even if they start running the glass, I'm at the end of the line and will be the last to know about it.
As for cellular phone service,,,,the nearest tower is just over the low ridge to the southwest. If I stand in just the right spot in the yard I might get one bar of service. Then again, my phone is the least expensive and two-plus years old. I carried it with me out into the woods the other day to see if I could get a connection from some of the higher points to the north and east. Nope. Might be time to check out the new phones Verizon offers. That or find a satellite provider.
Sooo....th serivce man showed up around 8:30 PM last night and started tracing the problem back down the line from the cabin. Told me he would call when he fixed the line or come back to report in person if he couldn't find anything in the dark. Some of the line runs in right of ways through the woods and can be a pain to get to in the dark. Especially when it's been or is currently raining, which it started to do not long after he left to do his search.
Anyway, about thirty minutes afer he began, I lost my internet conection so I knew something was up. Fifteen minutes later the phone rang. He had found a bad section of line and patched it up and everything should be hunky-dory. A few minutes later, after the router and modem had a chance to reboot, everything was.
******
Got up good an early this morning to go woods-walking only to hear the pitter patter (soon to become a roaring rattle) of rain on the tin roof. Again. *sigh*
2 comments:
I'm glad to hear you have phones again. The lack thereof can be disconcerting, annoying, and - occasionally - dangerous.
Hope your rain goes away! At the cabin, the only option we have for internet is satellite. WE've been using a laptop card but it's too slow, we might have to break down and get the expensive satellite service.
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