No more AT&T land lines...more nightmare products and customer service goofiness to deal with!
Locust Fork
Member Posts: 32,053 ✭✭✭✭
They have this new crap they are calling Phone Advanced.
Its supposed to give you a "home phone" that uses a cell phone type connection. Its a big box with antennas and you are supposed to be able to have a home phone without it going through your wifi or land lines.
I recently got Starlink internet, so the plan is to turn off the AT&T wifi. Since my home phone came through the modem I couldn't do that until they got the number switched over to the new Phone Advanced system.
Its been a total headache. They said it will work…..just plug it in. It is NOT working. If you call me you get a horrible noise. If I call out I get recordings on top of the phone call….to the point that you cannot hear anything.
They are sending someone out Christmas Eve…or so they say. They didn't show up for one appointment already, so I highly doubt they'll come this time.
Wish me luck! If I have any other issues I'm just going to do what I can to totally cut out AT&T from my life. They are the WORST.
Comments
Good luck!
There is no cell service at my house. I live within sight of the Canadian border, signals cannot cross the border. ATT has to keep my landline active until wireless service works.
This has been the most ridiculous nonsense. We have HORRIBLE cell service here, so I need the landline, plus we've had this as our number with the business forever. We HAD a traditional land line. When the business grew we had to get a T1 line to keep up with our internet needs. Then they had everything coming through that equipment. They finally activated Uverse here and we switched over. Once I figured out how much faster Starlink was we decided to switch. I am paying for TWO wifi connections until we get this home number things sorted out. They do not do land lines any longer….they are switching everyone over to this system. I don't get it….we have land lines here, we just can't have it any longer. We HAVE to get this thing.
I switched my landline over to Media com cable years ago. I kept my Bell South number that I had for years.
If you get Starlink you can use wi-fi calling on your cell phone and do away with your landline completely.
@Locust Fork , it seems like you ought to be able to do this also. If your cell phone has wi-fi capability then you can make calls through the Starlink system and you don't need a cell signal but when you're away from home the cell towers will be used by the cell phone.
I use wifi calling. Power goes out here often. This isn't a good place to be cut off completely. Just upgraded my generator to clean power ready to test. I pay 75 a month for that line even if it doesn't get used. Starlink is supposed to be finicky about generator power.
We've been on generator a couple of times with our Starlink and haven't had any trouble.
The generator is an older Generac that didn't produce clean enough power for our land line modem to operate.
I have my fingers crossed. Thanks Neo.
The one thing we also added into the system is an 'un-interruptable power supply'. It plugs into the wall and then the Starlink plugs into it. This keeps us from having any down time between when the power goes out and when the generator kicks on.
If the system works for you like it does for us I think you'll be very happy with it.
We have a land line just for old times sake. I have had that same phone number for 24 years. Plus it comes in handy if you misplace the cell phone, you can call your cell phone with the land line.
Our land line went kaput on Hurricane Day nearly 3 months ago. I doubt there were very many land lines in Madison County anyway, and we are in the middle of the disaster zone. The phone company keeps hitting me with bills for the land line. YOUR ACCOUNT IS 3 MONTHS LATE!! One might think that you could call the phone company and complain, but it is not possible to get a human on the line, just a computer that wants your credit card number.
I took a bill, 3 weeks ago, and wrote on it a letter saying "Why do you expect me to pay for 3 months for something that does not exist. My phone service." I had to drive down to Weaverville to mail it, because our post office was destroyed on Sept. 28. I haven't heard back.
Twice a week I get a text message on my cell phone saying "We're working on it and service will soon be restored."
We have battery back ups on the computers, but not the modem. That is a good idea. The back ups are only enough power to keep things going for a little bit….so you can end things and save your work before losing things because of a power outage.
I'm using VOIP. Internet Phone system. thru OOMA office. Check it out !
Cost is great with 2 lines $ 49.00 (in and out) Should be able to keep your old number too.
I owned my 800 number, and transferred over. They can set you up with one of these too $5.00 extra a month, with no charges on incoming calls.
With all the Dumb Questions I get, I'd love to set up 1-900- Gun-Talk !
Allen, you may need to note to them it's highly illegal to charge someone for a service not provided or delivered, let them know you'll stand your ground against them on that, they'll then sing a different tune. That also goes for any type business not just for phones.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
That's really sad. Doing a little research showed a fourth of folks still have a land line. Digging a bit deeper it seems anywhere 8% to 15% of folks have land lines ONLY! Highest percentage of exclusive land line users are in the Northeast/ New England states. l still have a land line. l will NEVER give it up! The burglar alarm is hooked to our land line. What l miss most are PHONE BOOKS.😪
Junkballer I don't know how to talk to them. You cannot get a person on the phone, only a computer demanding money. I sent last month's bill in by mail, with my letter attached saying I would not pay for a service that doesn't exist. They ignored my letter.
I was told they have a computer that opens the bills by mail, since I didn't send a check, perhaps the computer threw my letter away.
Why not just set up your cell phone (assuming you have one) to do wi-fi calling and save yourself $49/month?
We had the OOMA phone for a while here but ditched it and now use just our cells.
Man, isn't it a strange time when a person can't communicate with a communication company….🙄. Keep plugging away…somehow, ???
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
Roadtrip time. Nearest up and running office would be getting a visit from me.
"Why not just set up your cell phone (assuming you have one) to do wi-fi calling and save yourself $49/month?
We had the OOMA phone for a while here but ditched it and now use just our cells. "
We use the OOMA for Business and works well for us. Omma owns the number we started with apparently and we can't change the ones we have to cell. We've had these Omma numbers for over 15 years and don't want to lose customer to a out of service number.
Plus the 800 number is a boost, folks call this a lot and it doesn't cost but, $ 5.00 a month. Most 800 number cost the subscriber, 5-12 cent s a min., when some one calls in.
On Omma I can check missed Calls and messages on my emails and return on my cell if need be. Even have option to have calls forwarded to my cell.
Susie good idea. I googled up Frontier telephone office North Carolina, I could not come up with a single one.
I called a number on the last bill and finally got a person on the line, after 10 minutes. She had a heavy Indian accent.
I said "What country are you in? You sound like you are in India."
She said "I am sorry sir I am not allowed to divulge this information."
I said "Well it sounds like you are in India. Indian cuisine is my favorite! I love Chicken tikka Masala and Samosa appetizer." True. Boy did she light up, we had a five minute discussion about Chicken Vindaloo and Samosa etc. She said "Do you cook Indian food?" I said, "No, we go to Mela Indian Restaurant in Asheville, I can't cook Indian food."
We talked for ten minutes, I told her she had to remove 3 months of charges since my phone hasn't worked in 3 months. She said she'd do what she could.
Susie if you can find me a Verizon office in Asheville NC I will go down there and have a talk. It is possible that there are no more offices any more. I think it is all computers, and an actual office with employees, over in Punjab India. Try the tikka Masala it is delicious.