charley,
Yes, I understand exactly what the problem is.
First and foremost you are the customer and your dial tone provider whoever that is mine is Verizon and I also work Tech support for Verizon.......I deal with this quite a bit sometimes more than I want to, but here is the whole enchilada.
You call me and you are my customer you pay your bills on time and you are now a valuable customer....are you with me so far? Good!!!!
When you call me you tell me that you have problems with your phone lines, you do not want to mention computers or PCs, only that you have a problem with your line.
I will pull up everything I need in the way of information on you right down to how many lines when and where the number of "physical drops" to your home and I will even see that you have a "wire maintenance contract" (few people do not) once I verify this I will say........
......."I'm sorry Mr. Charley we will back ring your line in a few minutes and conduct a continuity test I will then call you back and verify with you that indeed there is or there is not a problem with your lines. (The PUC mandates we provide the dial tone service that you are paying for. whatever it takes, and expense is not an issue)
I call you back and say Mr. Charley there is a problem with that line and I apologize profusely then I say "sir we will have a repairman out to your home to check the "physical lines" by 12:00 noon tomorrow, Is there anything else that I can be of assistance with at this time?" and you get my name Mr. Charlie, Okay?.....ask for it if I do not give it to you Okay?
Oh, and Charley, complain all you need to call it harrass or bug me or continually call me if you like until we provide you with the excellent service that you are entitled to receive, and if I can't help to your satisfaction Mr. Charlie you need only speak to my supervisor who will see to it that you receive the service that you are entitled to.
Believe me Charley you do not know just how important it is to us to make sure that you are a happy customer we have the PUC to answer to and they are the ones that approve or deny our requests for rate increases and the last thing we want is Charlie telling them that we did not provide him excellent dial tone in all lines at all times. Were going to trip over ourselves to be sure that Charlie is happy no matter what it takes, that is what our job is Charlie.
So call us ask us check back on us call us back and harrass us if that is what it's called, bug the s**t out of us until we get it right because you are entitled to have the quality of service that you pay for.
BTW, we cannot discontinue your service for any reason other than non-payment it is the law mandated by the PUC and we have to adhere to it.
DS