[StBernard] Bell South back in Violet

[Westley Annis]

Yeah!
 
Bell South has reached Violet!  My service was restored the end of July and
I am located just past the old Our Lady of Lourdes Church.  Thought I'd pass
this along in the hopes that it helps someone get their service restored.
It's great to have a real phone again.  
 
Another Bell South note, they have a huge billboard on Paris Rd announcing
Wireless Broadband service in the Chalmette area.  A couple of weeks prior
to having my servce restored, I made my weekly repair request and finally
spoke to the right person who suggested the wireless connection so I could
at least get the Internet back even though I still had no phone line. (You
do need an active Bell South # somewhere for billing--thank goodness for the
phone line in the FEMA trailer)  A couple of phone calls later and I was
speaking with a supervisor in the WBB department.  They were willing to try
to see if I could get a signal 'way down' in Violet.  It seems that we're
about 3-4 miles from the signal.  They explained the costs and details and
sent out a modem and what do you know, I have internet!  The connection
isn't guaranteed because of the distance from the signal.  The folks at WBB
made sure I understood that, but with a 30 day trial period I figured I had
nothing to lose!  I may be an anomly at this point with my connection--which
is about the DSL Lite connection rate--but I'm thrilled.
 
If this helps anyone out, please e-mail me at mrsguzzie at yahoo.com.   I can
explain exactly what I have been told so that you can know what to expect.
I have to say that the folks at the WBB Dept. at Bell South are GREAT!  They
have been terrific about checking to see how we are doing with our
connection, answering questions, etc.  I can't say enough good things about
them.  Even if the whole WBB stuff wouldn't have worked for us, at least
someone was willing to try to help us out.  That meant a whole lot to me.
It's a shame they aren't giving FEMA lessons in customer relations!
 
Hope this info helps someone out.  It's great to be able to get to the
Internet from home like before Katrina--a little closer to being normal
again.  Never thought I'd be happy to be paying utility bills!

MrsGuzzie