My most recent phone bill from Bell Atlantic included a message about a rate increase for their Optional Wire Maintenance Plan for inside wire maintenance, from $1.25 to $2.45 a month (per line) - a 96% increase. This really ticks me off – they must be getting ready to give one of their retiring execs a golden parachute. I have a vague recollection of someone telling me that inside wire maintenance plans are not worth it – that it is rare to have a problem with inside wiring. I can’t recall ever having a problem with inside wiring either. So, should I keep paying for it or not?
This depends on a lot of stuff, like how old your inside wiring is, where it is (is it convenient for you to get to or not), and how handy you are. I pay for mine, even though my husband is quite handy, because our lines are old and in inconvenient spots. YMMV.
I can’t speak for anyone else but inside wire is pretty protected so it doesn’t make sense to me to pay for it.
If you have a problem they will tell you that if it is inside wire that it will cost you a expensive service call.
I have had several problems but they have all been on the phone companys side of the junction box.
I have an electronics background so I pretty much know where the problem is before I call in a problem.
A word of caution though, The junction box is often located on the outside of a house where the new puppy may chew the wire.That happened to me.I just fixed it myself.
Inside problems can include animal damage(puppies mice kids etc)also the plugins can sometimes break or wear out.The phone itself may be bad,lightning damage etc.
You at least need a spare phone to check these things out.I believe Radio shack sells a tester but I don’t know how complicated it is or the cost.
I live in an apartment, so I wonder if my landlord is responsible for inside wiring. Nothing in the lease about it.
Let’s pretend for a moment that I’m not a Bell Atlantic employee.
Hell no! Especially if you live in an apartment. I believe that the landlord is responsible for the building wiring up to the point of demarcation. Put that $2.45 into a piggy bank and after five years you’ll have almost $150, which should cover a regular voice phone line repair. The odds are in heavily your favour that you’ll never have any need for such repairs.
Ivan Seidenberg was given a $13.1 million compensation package for FY1999, up $10 million from last year.
'Nuff said.
Sycorax- You might want to ask your landlord if he is responsible for the inside wiring, and if he says he is, make sure you get it in writing. I also live in apt. About two years ago my phone died suddenly. I couldn’t figure it out, for an entire day I tested phones, jacks, wires, nothing, dead. So I called Bell Atlantic, they explained if it was inside I was responsible. OK fine, whatever, just fix it, I need to get online dammit! Anyway it was inside but it was in the basement, my responsibility according to Bell and according to my landlord, even though I have never even seen the basement. Cost me $50+ to repair. Needless to say I now have the wire maintainence plan.
But how often are you going to have a problem? I’ve had the maintenance plan for as long as I’ve had a phone and never had an inside wiring problem. Being conservative, let’s say I’ve paid an average of 75 cents a month for 25 years = $225 I think I’ll take my chances.
For a sample size of 1, a friend of mine’s father works for Southwestern Bell.
He says the line maintenance plan is the “greatest scam ever devised”, and that SWBell keeps about 97 cents of every dollar the customers pay into it.
He also said that a large number of things that go wrong in the home are not covered anyways, due to extensive fine-print in the agreement.
Drop the coverage.
Pay it.
The more profit they make, the less they have to charge the rest of us who know better than to waste their money.
Seriously, the phone company will always blame a phone problem on YOUR wiring. Know enough to disconnect the wires at the junction box and wire up a spare phone. This lets you prove to them that it is their problem, and if not, you have one working phone until you can get it fixed.
Essentially this is a form of insurance, you pay the fee and if you ever have a problem Bell Atlantic fixes at no cost. Bell Atlantic hopes that you never make a claim and they get to keep your money. Being a phone system technician I have to agree with Lynn. It depends on your needs. If you have an old house with bad wires and/or no experience repairing this sort of thing it makes sense. You need to evaluate the likely hood of needing this service then make your decision.
Our house is over 50 years old, with the original phone lines in some places. We’ve added a few more, but the old lines are still there, and it would cost quite a bit to rewire them. We’re gonna rewire the phones AND electricity one of these days…but until then, I think that we’ve actually saved quite a bit of money by paying the fees. We’ve had to have the inside wires worked on about four times.
Here in WI, the telephone company had a program called the “Linebacker” maintenance plan and was sued over it. You can read the details here http://www.jsonline.com/archive/nov97/business/news/971113ameritechtoofferfrees.stm
The company disclosed that it had reached a settlement in the 10-year-old class-action suit, which stemmed from charges that Ameritech had used unfair sales practices to promote Linebacker, an inside wire maintenance plan
Wisconsin users of Ameritech’s Linebacker wiring service are to receive $10 worth of calling cards and other free services as part of a $226 million settlement the company reached Wednesday with customers in five states.