For quite some time we have been having trouble with our Verizon land line. The phone rings once all by itself – at one time it was always about ten thirty eight at night. We called it our “go to sleep call.” Whenever it rains heavily, the dial tone would disappear. Recently, the phone would ring with nobody there. Recently, any time we made a call, another call “bled” through like an old fashioned party line. A relative said she had been trying to call us for weeks but always got a very rapid “busy” signal. We had no message on our voice machine.
Because I have Suddenlink, I decided to switch to their phone service. While I was on the phone with the Suddenlin rep, the party line “bleed” through happened. “Hear that?” I asked him. “Yes,” he said. I had him call me back on my cell phone, and we completed the transaction.
I guess the phone companies are not much interested in investing in maintaining their land lines. Sort of like paper newspapers, they are slowly fading into the past.