Online - But Maybe Not For Long
Apr. 15th, 2018 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeThis evening after dinner, Lisa and I ventured outside as a wind storm whipped through Fernley. (You may have noticed that we get a lot of wind here.) Lisa noticed a problem with our phone line, which hangs across the street running from the main line to a pole in front of our house.
This line should not be this low. Lisa got out a long pole and estimates that the sagging line is only about 13 feet clear of the road. This is not good, because big rigs run on this street, serving the Imerys Minerals plant down the street and also after parking nearby to eat at the Mexican restaurant on Main Street.
Here's the problem, located on the pole directly in front of our house. One of the two anchors that connects the line to the pole has broken. The bottom line is the AT&T telephone (and DSL internet) line. The line above in this view is the (currently inactive) Charter cable line. Above that out of view is the electrical utility line from NV Energy. NV Energy owns the pole, as far as we know.
I tried calling AT&T. Multiple times. I tried 611. I tried various numbers on AT&T web sites that claim to be open 24/7 for reporting down lines. I called the operator. In every case, I ended up back at a recording telling me that their office is closed right now and to call back during normal business hours. I thought AT&T repair for their phone lines worked 24/7, but apparently their computers don't think so.
I tried calling the Lyon County (non-emergency) dispatch line. They told me to call NV Energy, because it's their pole. I called NV Energy, where I did actually get to speak to a human agent. He was as bemused as me at the LCSO's instructions, but he said he'd put in a ticket, and call me back if there was any development. Who knows, maybe there is someone at NV Energy who knows who to rouse someone from AT&T.
The irony of course is that the local AT&T office where the repair workers stage from (not open to the public) is about one block from my house. I can see it from the front porch. Not that there's anyone there right now, of course.
If that phone line goes down completely (including being clipped by a big rig to tear it down), I'll still be able to get my Day Jobbe done because I can bridge my company smartphone to the company computer. But this is not a preferred way of working, because it uses a horrendous amount of bandwidth, and whenever I exceed the 15 GB/month allowance on the phone, the company gets unhappy about the extra charges. But if I have to do it that way, I will.
This line should not be this low. Lisa got out a long pole and estimates that the sagging line is only about 13 feet clear of the road. This is not good, because big rigs run on this street, serving the Imerys Minerals plant down the street and also after parking nearby to eat at the Mexican restaurant on Main Street.
Here's the problem, located on the pole directly in front of our house. One of the two anchors that connects the line to the pole has broken. The bottom line is the AT&T telephone (and DSL internet) line. The line above in this view is the (currently inactive) Charter cable line. Above that out of view is the electrical utility line from NV Energy. NV Energy owns the pole, as far as we know.
I tried calling AT&T. Multiple times. I tried 611. I tried various numbers on AT&T web sites that claim to be open 24/7 for reporting down lines. I called the operator. In every case, I ended up back at a recording telling me that their office is closed right now and to call back during normal business hours. I thought AT&T repair for their phone lines worked 24/7, but apparently their computers don't think so.
I tried calling the Lyon County (non-emergency) dispatch line. They told me to call NV Energy, because it's their pole. I called NV Energy, where I did actually get to speak to a human agent. He was as bemused as me at the LCSO's instructions, but he said he'd put in a ticket, and call me back if there was any development. Who knows, maybe there is someone at NV Energy who knows who to rouse someone from AT&T.
The irony of course is that the local AT&T office where the repair workers stage from (not open to the public) is about one block from my house. I can see it from the front porch. Not that there's anyone there right now, of course.
If that phone line goes down completely (including being clipped by a big rig to tear it down), I'll still be able to get my Day Jobbe done because I can bridge my company smartphone to the company computer. But this is not a preferred way of working, because it uses a horrendous amount of bandwidth, and whenever I exceed the 15 GB/month allowance on the phone, the company gets unhappy about the extra charges. But if I have to do it that way, I will.
