Verizon is evil, part 2 (Sort of)

So, did you miss me?

No, you probably didn't. In fact, you probably didn't really even notice I was gone. A couple days without a post isn't that uncommon on this blog, and has been even much more common this summer than in the past. However, the lack of posting was not a part of my design. In fact, I came into the house on Thursday afternoon after work perpared with a great post topic, which I'll still be writing later anyhow. Unfortunately, my internet connection was not going to cooperate with such a desire, and is only now willing to comply.

So, here's the story. I came home and took care of some errands, after which I came down here and set at the computer, ready to type away. No internet. I head over to the DSL modem/wireless router to restart it (which usually takes care of any such problem), but the DSL light was blinking, which meant the modem was not connecting back to Verizon. I unplugged the phone cable and plugged it directly into the box outside, still nothing. I pondered for a second, and then it hit me.

Verizon has contractors running underground fiber optic cable to support their FiOS internet and TV in our area. Driving by the back of the house on my way home, I had noticed they'd finally started making the runs up into the development. And, despite the fact that everything was marked, that struck me as a potential recipe for disaster. So, I walk down across the yard towards the line they dug up between the buildings, and what do I see, but a severed phone wire sticking up out of the freshly churned dirt. Lovely. Incidently, there was also a cable wire that had been destroyed as well. So, I know why the internet is out, but unfortunately, the story doesn't end there.

Shortly after I came back into the house, the lights blinked, and I thought I heard a noise outside at the same time. I ran outside, didn't see anything, and the lights stayed on, so I just went back in and settled into my evening. I was all set to watch some Olympic action, when, shortly after NBC's coverage came on, there was a definite "boom", and the lights went off. They blinked back on, another boom. This cycle repeated a couple more times, before finally the lights stayed off. I ran outside, and down in the brush area where the main transformer for our neighborhood is, there was a fire. 911 was called, the fire department came in (the fire was mostly out by the time they got here), and then the electrical company showed up to fix the problem. I'm not sure what actually happened, but they were still working on it when I left for work around 7 the next morning, so we had no power through the night. Fortunately, after being woefully unprepared for the extended blackout we had after an ice storm back during the winter, I had stocked up on candles, flashlight batteries, etc. I'm also exceedingly happy I have a gas water heater that just predates electric ignitions, so I had hot water in the morning despite the blackout. Would it surprise anyone to know that it was clear the contractors had been digging in the vicinity of our transformer?

The reason for the "sort of" in the post title is that these workers were contractors, and not actually Verizon. This time, when I called technical support, the guy was quite helpful. He believed my story and thus we skipped all but the absolute minimum troubleshooting step, and quickly got a dispatch setup. The technician made a point of moving my appointment ahead of some other work where customers didn't need to present this morning, and so things were resolved pretty quickly. And, he was quite friendly and very competant. Fortunately he didn't need much from me, because Chaser snuck out of the house behind me at one point and I had to spend 10 minutes following him around the neighborhood before he finally tired enough that I could corral him. But anyhow as, far as the actual company of Verizon on this matter, they get highmarks, other than for the contractors they chose, and to be honest, I don't expect much different from that kind of work these days, which is sad.