Wire maintenance protection essentially serves as insurance for your telephone service and the equipment in your home or business. It’s important to remember that a very small monthly fee can save you time, money, and hassle in the event you experience problems with your telephone service and need repairs. Lackawaxen strongly suggests that customers choose one of our wire maintenance plans, to avoid possible costly and unnecessary charges in the future.

Lackawaxen Telecommunications Services offers two optional wire maintenance plans:

• Standard Inside Wire Maintenance — 20¢ per month per jack; provides repair of inside wiring and jacks, with no additional charges for service calls. If, however, the problem is with customer-owned telephones or equipment, Lackawaxen will charge you a minimum Service Maintenance Visit Charge of $27.
• Enhanced Inside Wire Maintenance — 75¢ per month, covers all the inside wiring and jacks in your home. If, however, the problem is with customer-owned telephones or equipment, Lackawaxen will charge you a minimum Service Maintenance Visit Charge of $27.

Repair Costs

If you do not subscribe to either of Lackwaxen’s wire maintenance plans, and you experience trouble which is not related to our outside equipment, you will be responsible for the repairs made to your telephone equipment. Should you choose for Lackawaxen to make these repairs, you will be charged accordingly. The charges for repair service during normal business hours are:

Time for labor is billed in 30-minute increments, at $30.00 for the first 30 minutes, and $25.00 for each additional 30 minutes. Lackawaxen charges a minimum of $57.00 for each service call ($27.00 service visit fee, combined with $30.00 minimum labor charge).

*Lackawaxen also charges a flat fee for materials used.

Remember, if the trouble is in your inside wiring or jacks and you do not have inside wire maintenance with Lackawaxen, you will be charged for a service repair call. If you subscribe to an inside wire maintenance plan, and the problem is in our equipment, there is no charge for a service repair call.

Pinpointing Service Problems

Many people panic when they realize they don’t have phone service. Your service "outage" could be the result of a simple accident, and may be easier to fix than you think. Before calling to report trouble with your telephone service or line, please review these simple items:

• Have you checked to be sure all handsets are properly replaced?
• Have you checked to make sure your telephone is plugged into the jack?
• Have you checked to see if the trouble is on all phones, or just one phone?
• Have you unplugged your cordless telephone, answering machine, and modem to see if any of these items are causing the problem?
• Have you checked the service at the NID (Network Interface Device — the gray box on the outside of your house)? (For instructions on how to check the NID, please refer to your yellow instruction card, or see the information below.)

While Lackawaxen promptly responds to all service repair requests, we offer these guidelines to help customers pinpoint and possibly fix their own service. If you experience trouble with your telephone service, please review the following instructions before contacting us. By diagnosing the problem, you may be able to quickly restore the service yourself, and alleviate the need for a service call. Pinpointing the problem will also help you describe it to our repair office.

Is the problem in one phone?

1. If only one telephone is not working, unplug it, and plug a working phone in its jack. If that phone works, the problem is the non-working phone. Contact the store or company where you purchased the phone.

*If you have only one phone, borrow a phone from a neighbor or Lackawaxen, and plug it into the jack to try this test.

2. If you have a Network Interface Device (NID), (the gray box where the outside line is attached to your house), plug a working phone into the NID (see the following instructions). If there is no dial tone at the NID, the problem is in the outside line. Contact the Lackawaxen office for repair.

3. If you have a normal dial tone at the NID, the problem is most likely in the wiring or jack inside your home, or in your telephone equipment, not Lackawaxen’s outside line.

Is the problem in more than one phone?

Be aware that a single faulty piece of telephone equipment can cause a problem or outage in all of your telephones. If you do not have a dial tone, can not call in or out, or hear noise on all of your telephones, it may be a good idea to check all of your equipment before contacting the Lackawaxen office.

1. If you have a NID outside your home, plug a working phone into the NID (see the following instructions). If there is no dial tone at the NID, the problem is in the outside line. Contact Lackawaxen for repair.

2. If you have a normal dial tone at the NID, the problem is not in Lackawaxen’s outside line, but either in the wiring or jack inside your home, or in your telephone equipment.

3. Unplug every piece of telephone equipment (cordless phones, answering machines, fax machines, computers, etc.) in your house. Plug in a working phone into an outlet. If that phone works, then a piece of your equipment is faulty. Plug in each piece of equipment (with the phone) one at a time until the problem re-occurs. This will determine which piece of equipment is not working. If the phone does not work when you plug it into the jack, but you have dial tone at the NID, the problem is in your inside wiring or jacks.

Please Note: If you have a cordless telephone or answering machine, you may lose your dial tone after a storm. Before contacting the Lackawaxen office, try unplugging this equipment for 15 minutes and then reconnecting it. If you still do not have dial tone, please follow the instructions for testing your service at the NID.

Testing your service at the NID:

The NID allows you to determine where the problem is. Advance testing may eliminate unnecessary repair trips by Lackawaxen Telecommunications Services. Telephone lines do carry electrical current. Please use CAUTION when testing lines.

1. Unscrew the cover of the NID with a screwdriver and open it.

2. Disconnect the modular plug from the test jack inside the NID. Wait one minute and plug in a telephone you know is working.

3. Try the telephone. If the problem persists, the trouble is probably with Lackawaxen’s outside line. Please contact our repair office. If the problem has cleared, the trouble is within your inside wiring, jacks or telephone equipment. Please contact the business office or someone else to make the repairs.

Lackawaxen Telecommunications Services responds to customer trouble 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If we respond to a service request, and the problem is inside your home or equipment, you will be responsible for repairs if you do not have a Lackawaxen wire maintenance plan. If you have any additional questions about Lackawaxen’s Inside Wire Maintenance Plans, or if you would like to sign up for one of our plans, please stop by our business office or call us at 570-685-7111, or 1-800-647-7781. You can also email us at customerservice@ltis.net.

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