Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!telecom-request
From: jhall@ihlpm.att.com (John R Hall)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Bell of PA's Guardian Service
Message-ID: <telecom11.257.4@eecs.nwu.edu>
Date: 30 Mar 91 16:35:28 GMT
Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 40
Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 257, Message 4 of 5

Well, I agree in general that "inside wire
maintenance" plans are not worth much especially
for someone who is minimally handy with tools.
However, I lived in a high rise for several years,
and I did choose the inside wire maintenance plan,
and I'm glad I did.  When I got my initial service,
I asked from what point in the loop I would be
responsible for repairs.  The best I can tell, the
answer was a telephone panel located in a stairwell
a couple of floors down (I was on 17), but I was
never quite sure of this.  The wire went internally
through the walls and floors from that point where
it popped up in the kitchen jack.  Inside were many
pairs of wires.  We also had an entry door system
which operated off a special code on a lobby telephone
that rang on our regular phone line.  I was not
convinced that if something went wrong I would be
able to fix it, so I opted for Illinois Bell's
inside wire maintenance plan.  Well, two years later
my phone went dead - no dial tone.  I called repair,
and the repair person had to check in a couple of
places in the building where I didn't have access,
and he was in my apartment for about six hours.  He
got it working, and his diagnosis was one corroded
jack (probably due to moisture from an adjoining cooling
duct) and a "wiring error" (curious, though because it
worked OK before).  It was very confusing because I
couldn't follow the wiring easily from jack to jack,
and the cable in the boxes was a rat's nest.  So I was
glad I payed the wire maintenance surcharge.

In my current place, the wiring runs clearly along a
conduit straight down to the basement, and I would have
no problem in diagnosing a problem with it (my tip and
ring ARE reversed, but I don't have access do the basement -
guess they want to protect that old coal bin which is
still full of coal even though the antique boiler was
converted to gas who-knows-how-long ago).
--John