A couple weeks ago I was bitching as usual about the tech suckers who insist on using NSA’s web for their “decentralized” and “private” bitcoin systems. I said
The common carriers are STILL THERE. The wired landline system is still strong and still maintained by Bell Tel.
In fact it’s stronger than before.
A few days ago I was feeling poorly and wanted to call a taxi for a store trip. My landline was dead. I went ahead and made the trip in the usual way, mostly walking with a bit of bus, and turned out just fine. Better to avoid laziness unless things are really serious.
There was some nearby lightning after the last good phone call, so I suspected lightning damage to either the phone or the line. I followed proper troubleshooting methods. Ordered another touch-tone phone from Ebay, then plugged it in to be sure the trouble wasn’t in my phone itself. Still dead.
Today I got onto CenturyLink’s website and chose their troubleshooting option. The system ran an automatic check on the line and said “there is a known outage”, and gave a restoration time. I didn’t need to submit a ticket or anything, just needed to rouse the system’s attention to this line!
I’m impressed!
If I had known how simple it is now, I would have used the website BEFORE ordering the spare phone, but that’s OK. Now I’ve got a spare phone in case my phone really does fail.
Polistra's Mill 