I think this time, our current internet provider has even pushed Vince beyond his limits. It is back on now but it went off about 4 p.m. yesterday. When it goes off, because our phone is Magic Jack, we have no home phone. Because our cell phones don’t work without the microcell (which runs off the internet), we have no cell phones without the internet. It isn’t like I really care if we have phones but it’s a little discomforting to know I’m back here with no neighbors and no phone.
This morning Vince called them from work and they told him the tower was “down”. I don’t think it was physically DOWN but who knows with them. Before he came home for lunch, he called to check the status and the person he spoke to acted like it was completely our problem, told him to unplug the router and the modem and stand on his head and count backwards from 100! Not really but knowing they were having tower issues, it didn’t seem right to ask Vince to do all that at home. He did it and of course, that didn’t solve anything. He asked her if they were still having tower problems and she said “There could be anything wrong!” Huh? Vince asked if others in the area were having problems and didn’t get a straight answer but she was sending a service tech out to our house.
In the meantime, the service guy called Vince at work about 1:30 and said the tower was working . . did that solve our problem so Vince called me. Yay! The phone rang. I was connected to the world again.
Best of all . . we have new internet (new company) being installed next week. Several guys Vince works with has the new company and they said it’s been reliable.
Any time there are things I HAVE to do on a certain day . . like the Sherwin-Williams post or the 100 Blocks post, I worry for days that my internet will be down. I surely hope we get more reliable service.
I know . . it’s just internet but to someone like me who could care less about having TV or cell phone or home phone, the internet is my link to the world.
Of those three — TV, phone (any kind – home or cell) or internet, which one could you live without, which one would you never want to have to be without and which one is take it or leave it? And no . . they can’t all three have the same level of importance! Ever so briefly while commenting on my question, please let them have different levels of importance!
Hilary McDaniel says
Sounds like our Skybeam Internet service. Horrible at times.
Internet,tv, then phone
Karen in CA says
Internet, Phone, TV. Without internet I can’t work from home. 🙂
Claudia Wade says
First, internet. Second, tv. Third, phone.
CheriB says
phone- landline
TV
We have no internet at home.
Tina in NJ says
I think Internet would be most important, with phone a close second. I could probably live without TV, at least until football season.
Judy Garber says
Yep, that’s us exactly.
BillieSews says
Could never be without internet, I can certainly live without TV, and could take or leave the phone.
Anne C. says
Would have to have Internet service. Enjoy TV, but I would give it up for Internet. Truly dislike the phone! I don’t enjoy yammering on the phone. Because most calls are either telemarketers or someone asking me to do something, I wouldn’t miss the phone one bit.
Robin Crittenden says
What do you have? My friend has wild blue and problems. Hers is out now and 95.00 just to come out.
Doreen says
Internent then phone and …………………..TV (or not!). Where do these companies get their employees????And why are they still employed there????? Just sayin’…….glad you’re back!
Shirley says
Don’t even get me started. I am a rural Internet Service Provider and I can bet you don’t pay anything near the cost of satellite TV plus local and long distance phone service to your Provider, yet this is what you expect them to deliver. If there was money to be made providing rural service, Comcast would be doing it. If there was a problem on their tower, hiring a climber takes time. You went down at 4 p.m. and came back at 1:30 p.m.? That’s excellent turn-around, especially after storm damage!! If you want better service than that, move back to a place with free trash pickup, pizza delivery, constant sirens, traffic jams and fiber-fed Internet service..
JudyL says
Yes, this was a fairly prompt fix . . only down about 20 hours. 🙂 Last time it was down for 6 days, up for 2 and down for several more days.
No, I simply expect them to provide what they tell me they will provide. If they need to tell me it’s $500/month, then tell me up front but don’t tell me I’ll have excellent service for $100 month and then it doesn’t work as often as this one doesn’t work.
That’s the cost of doing business and if it isn’t worth the $$ to do it . . don’t do it!
No, that isn’t good enough. When we decided to go with that company, we asked them how long it took them to fix issues. We HAVE to have a working phone with Vince’s job. What they told us and what we got are two different things.
Just for the record, I’ve never had free trash pickup, never had constant sirens, never had traffic jams and never had fiber-fed internet. I have had pizza delivery but don’t have it now but you know . . I would feel EXACTLY the same if Dominoe’s told me they delivered out here, took my money and then showed up 3 hours late or not at all. I’m fine with the truth. They don’t deliver out here and I know they don’t so I don’t concern myself with it. The internet folks told us they provided dependable service and they do not.
JudyL says
And I doubt many Comcast subscribers are paying half of what we’re paying. And for the record, I pay nothing for satellite tv, local and long distance phone service because I have no home phone and no TV satellite or cable.
Teresa in Music City says
So glad it seems your Internet woes are over! I would say Internet is most important to me too. I could still be in touch with what’s going on in the world and connect with others through social media, and I could email or Skype with family. My phone is definitely second – it is my connection with my family & friends as well as my camera! TV is a nice thing to have when I want to be entertained, but I could do without it no problem.
Marsha says
Definitely Internet. I was on the line two hours today trying to get my yahoo mail back. It is 50% back.
Marilyn Smith says
Our landline, internet and cable tv is all thru the cable company. It went out the other day for about an hour and a half and I thought my dh was going to go crazy with no tv or internet. Our cell phones worked as they are with Verizon. We don’t spend alot of time on the phone, hate all the telemarketers or people looking for someone who doesn’t live here or that we have never heard of. The cable company has been quite reliable the past few years but was terrible for awhile prior to that. After DH wrote a scathing letter to the company and newspaper – our problem that we had had for years was finally resolved and very quickly. Many others responded to the letter to the editor that they were having terrible problems that could not be fixed by their incompetent people. All is well now.
Linda M says
I could never do without a phone…my daughter is away at college and my family is the other side of the country. But we got rid of our landline a couple of years ago, so we only have cell phones. Next would be internet – I like it, but if it’s down I can live without it. Could do without TV. We went to just an antenna and Netflix a couple of years ago, too.
Regina says
Internet, phone, tv… and I can’t imagine being down when you are SO internet dependent with what you do…. hope the new company gives you the reliability you need.
Libby says
Internet, phone , tv in that order. I can go days without turning the tv on.
Lori in South Dakota says
I could easily live without TV. Then internet–but not for long! Most important– cell phone.
Sue in Scottsdale, AZ says
I need the Internet, then my phone only if there is an emergency and needed to call for help, and I could definitely live without TV as I barely turn it on now.
Vicky says
Definitely internet. I guess TV would be second. I seem to be watching a lot of it since my surgery. My home phone – I rarely answer it. My cell phone is my phone of choice. I pay out the wazoo for plain cable and internet service through a major provider. I have gone weeks without internet, and many days without TV. One time it went out in the middle of an LSU game!!! I have no choice on my provider now as it all goes through the condo association,, but will make very careful choices when I finally retire and get back home.
Marion Morgan says
A working phone would be No. 1 to get help, if needed.
Love my iPad and use it alot and yet also love my TV. I’m a news freak and like a good movie that I can watch at home.
EagleKnits says
I would have to choose internet first, then cell phone (we don’t have a landline), with TV being last. The nice thing about internet is that you can do almost anything on it that you can do on the other two.
Janna says
Couldn’t live without the internet, cell phone doesn’t work at our house, could live without regular phone if I had internet and last would be TV–we haven’t had TV for about 15 years.
Dora, the quilter says
I’m glad it’s working for you. We do live without a TV service–we get a couple of channels over the air. Our home phone and internet service are provided via a tower from Wi-Power, and I wouldn’t want to live without them. Our cell phones are prepaid,, which works best for us because we mostly use them for texting–in any case they’d be hard to give up since we have to travel such great distances–and since my Sweet Teen would rather text than talk.
Cindy F says
My order would have to be internet, phone, then tv. Although when I’m on the road I have to have the cell phone working.
On another aside, I wonder about you being without phone service in an emergency if for some reason your internet provider isn’t working. Have you considered getting a hand-held ham radio or “the Spot” gps emergency locating device? My husband has both and keeps them nearby when he’s in the great outdoors and there’s no cell phone service available.
Linda in NE says
Internet is #1 with me. TV is only here for the hubby and I don’t own a cell phone. The landline is mostly annoying….most calls are people trying to sell me something or trying to get me to donate to something. Bleh!!
Kaelyn says
Our TV would be the first to go, then the internet, then the phone. It is a smart phone, so it also has internet, but I can’t seem to function without it.
Pat Hathaway says
We were without internet for several weeks after an ice storm a couple of winters ago and it was awful! I was glad to go to work just to have a computer that could link up to the net. I could definitely live without the phone. I would miss TV but if I had internet I could live without it.
Joan in NE says
I could easily live without TV. Am so disgusted with the programs as a whole. About the only thing I watch is quilting programs on Saturdays. Phone I need because of lifeline for Dh Internet keeps me in touch with family and friends.
Jane says
Internet, TV then phone….I think. I don’t really watch much tv but I do like the shows I do watch. :-). Good luck with your new provider!
Gale says
First off we have to have a phone because of Joe’s medical condition and because so many of our relatives across the country are still in the dark ages and don’t have internet. Then I have to have internet. I can easily live without television as neither of us hardly ever watch it.
Peg H says
Internet is critical since I run our business from our home and it’s net-based. Phone would be next, for customers who need help (if it weren’t for that, I’d be fine without a phone). TV could go away forever as far as I’m concerned. I can watch pretty much whatever I want via – you guessed it – the internet!
Nancy Angerer says
OK — your question did make me think a little:) We almost never watch TV so I could do without that. In fact we have cancelled it a few weeks ago, and I haven’t missed it a bit. We may not even get it when we move to Alabama. I hate making phone calls, but the phone is nice to have at times. The internet provides a lot of fun and inspiration. I would hate to miss your blog:) In fact, I am dreading the time during the move when I won’t have the internet.
Pam Gonzalez says
I could easily live without television, then phone…but I’d really struggle without internet!! I lived for 6 months one time with out television. It was funny listening to my friends talk about the shows they were watching and they couldn’t believe I wasn’t watching. Sure got a lot more done!!
Linda Steller says
You’re so right, Judy – they all have different levels of importance. For me, I could totally do without the TV. Actually, I turned off my cable and unplugged the TV for two whole years and I didn’t miss it at all. I did, during that time, have videos to watch if I wanted to. Probably about two years ago, I hooked the TV up to an antenna, so I have local channels, and now I have a Roku box. Still crap on TV, but I like the Roku. I can take or leave the phone — I only have a cell phone. Very handy when I’m out traveling for a few reasons: it’s a smartphone, so it has my navigator in it, it’s contact on the road if I have an accident or the car breaks down, and it has internet so I can find quilt shops! Internet — gotta have. I can survive by email, heck, I can phone from my computer on the internet. I can look up anything I want to know and, yes, I want to know everything before I die! Good internet is a must.
Susan says
I already live without TV service, and could live without the Roku or even a DVD. I just need something to play my classical music. I guess the one I don’t want to be without is the phone – I hate talking on it, but I text everyone in the world. Internet is nice, but there are days when I think I could a lot more done if I’d toss it!
Cindy says
Most important to me is the internet, the next would be the phone and last in importance would be the TV. Since I live far, far from family, I am totally dependent on the internet for communication with them and when it is down (fairly often) I feel isolated!
Lee says
My number one would probably be the phone – never have liked the phone, but it’s nice to have for an emergency. Then I could lose the TV; internet? that’s my social life most of the time even if I’m only ‘lurking’ wherever I am.
Sandra Richardson says
Phone is most important, for those not choosing that they must not have had to make emergency calls at any time. If you had you would not choose to live without either cell or landline!
Mel Meister says
Well, you MUST have a phone, so that’s rather moot. Of the other two, I could live without TV if I had to as a lot of our shows are on the internet, too.
Sherry V says
I would be hard pressed to give up my Internet; but the phone is important. The tv could go away and I could be fine with it.
Beth in AZ says
I usually rely on my cell phone to keep in contact with a teen and a traveling husband. But right now , with a DD deployed, I would be up a creek w/o a paddle with no internet! I love that I can skype her and see her pretty face even if she is on the other side of the planet! I mostly watch my beloved Diamondbacks on TV…that order could change with out notice!
Helen Koenig1 says
Home phone – while I really like the net – I’ve had several periods over the last 15 years when for some reason or other (usually money) I couldn’t have internet. Yes, I found I was addicted to it – but YES – life not only went on – BUT I got more done in ALL areas of my life.
The phone however – that I NEED – for emergency purposes and to maintain contact with my kids. Other than talking to my kids or emergencies – I could do without that too!
As for TV – I haven’t had TV since my son was 10. He is 32 now!
Helen Koenig1 says
Home phone – while I really like the net – I’ve had several periods over the last 15 years when for some reason or other (usually money) I couldn’t have internet. Yes, I found I was addicted to it – but YES – life not only went on – BUT I got more done in ALL areas of my life.
The phone however – that I NEED – for emergency purposes and to maintain contact with my kids. Other than talking to my kids or emergencies – I could do without that too!
As for TV – I haven’t had TV since my son was 10. He is 32 now!