Phone hell. Need advice, insight, whatever!

[eleonora]

Ok, our local phone company is SBC, our long distance provider is Qwest. Since last week we can't make long distance phone calls or international phone calls anymore. We dial and get no tone...

So we called SBC which told us it wasn't their problem and they had tested the line. "Everything's fine", they tell us. "Call your long distance provider".

We call Qwest. They tell us this isn't their problem, it is SBC. They refuse to send out a tech guy. GRRRRRR

We call SBC again, we tell them Qwest told us it must be them, SBC. They tell us there is nothing they can do to fix our problem and that it IS our long distance provider's fault.

I'm SO tired of calling back and forth between companies just throwing the blame back and forth. What should I do??

We even tried the line with different phones, to no avail.

edit: yes, we paid all our bills on time.

[merwin]

1. Switch long distance carriers, or use a 1010 cutthrough

http://www.1010dialing.com/1010_dial_around_plans_faqs.html

[democracyindanger]

2. First off

drop Qwest and sign up with Working Assets Long Distance:

http://www.workingassets.com/longdistance.cfm?formid=EA-019-HMP-1

Progressive company with competitive rates that supports groups like the ACLU, Human Rights Watch and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

If you still can't make LD calls, call up SBC and tell them that it's got to be their problem, because even with a new LD provider you still have the same problem.

[eleonora]

8. thanks, I'll look into it!

we thought about switching too.

[KitchenWitch]

3. a suggestion:

Buy a pre-paid phone card...you can find them for less than $0.03 per minute, which is usually cheaper than carrying long distance on your residential line.

[wtmusic]

4. Where are you?

I had to file a complaint against SBC with the CA Public Utilities Commission because of their got-damn slow service...

[eleonora]

7. really? I'm in IN

the problem is, I don't know who's guilty! I heard Qwest sucks when it comes to customer service, but that was after the facts...

[KitchenWitch]

9. Qwest is terrible

They are the local carrier around here and it took me three years and countless phone calls and visits for them to fix my landline...which would stop working every time it rained...and it rains a good deal during the summer in Minnesota!

[eleonora]

10. the woman at the phone cut me off

to say "thank you for using Qwest, goodbye" like she was annoyed. THE BITCH. We're looking into a new provider now. It will serve them to mistreat customers who always pay on time.

[KitchenWitch]

12. They treat their customers here like they do not have to retain them

Since they have close to a monopoly on the landlines here, they get away with it. I thought breaking up AT&T (during the Reagan years) was supposed to prevent this crap.

[mike_c]

5. if you have broadband, sign up with a VOIP company....

I use Vonnage-- one monthly fee ($24.95) covers any calls in the U.S. or Canada, 24/7. No more long distance charges.

[eleonora]

13. wow, vonage looks mighty good

I might just go with them.

[mike_c]

14. I've had Vonnage for three months now...

...and I really like it. All kinds of nice "extras" too-- most of which I never use, but they're freebies that the phone company charges extra for. I never have any second thoughts about long distance calls anymore. The sound quality is indistinguishable from my regular land line, at least from my end.

[eleonora]

15. was the transfer painless?

?

[mike_c]

16. absolutely....

Vonnage sent me a router by UPS, I followed the directions to plug it in-- had to try a couple of different configurations to make my existing wireless router work too-- and that was about it. It took a couple of days to get 911 service set up. I still have my SBC land line, although I never use it anymore and the only calls I ever get on it are unsolicited sales calls. I kept the landline "just in case." It did come in handy once, when my cable went down-- I used SBC to call Cox Communications to come out and fix my cable, and incidentally, my phone! Of course, I could have just as easily done that from my office. I keep meaning to cancel SBC and forgetting to do it.

[NV Whino]

6. Sounds like your long distance provider

If you can get through on your local line, it's not SBC.

You might try Working Assets for a long distance provider. Part of your fee goes to good blue causes every year... and you get to choose which ones. Plus you get some Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

http://www.workingassets.com/longdistance.cfm?formid=IB-019-WY6-1&campid=40601847

[eleonora]

11. I would go for it except that it doesn't offer rates

for international calls and that's a must for our family... :(

[givemebackmycountry]

17. somebody has you blocked

I work for a long distance company on the data side, but I used to work the voice end.

Someone has you blocked.

Sometimes they have you blocked because they think YOU blocked long distance or international dialing.

Sometimes they have you blocked because they have set a dollar limit on how often and where you can call.

And then there is the possibility that they have you blocked because you have no long distance carrier selected as your primary calling selection.

Someone suggested using a cut through code which is also what I recommend.

Either way, it's a hose job.

And thank god I now work on the data end.

Since when did making a phone call become such a complex task?

I work for a damn long distance company and I can't explain it either.

Oh, and by the way...Bush sucks and it's all his fault.

[lpbk2713]

18. Deregulation.

It wasn't broke, so they fixed it.