Iowa Providers Unite!

[nanglgrl]

We need to start a petition and write letters to Des Moines. Iowa providers are now required to have a copper wired land line coming in to their house. The rule was: "The home shall have a non-pay, working telephone with emergency numbers posted for police, fire, ambulance, and the poison information center. A cell phone shall not be used as the primary phone". Until recently this was interpreted as meaning you just needed to have a phone that did not depend on wireless signals now it means you have to have a copper wired land line. I just found out that they are now going to be checking the number you put down in your registration forms and they will be able to tell if you are not using a copper wired land line. If they don't do it now they will be doing it when you re-register and your registration will be denied or revoked unless you change.
If you use MEDIACOM, VONAGE, MAGIC JACK or any other phone provider that comes in through your cable or internet and not on a copper line this EFFECTS YOU! You may not even know that your line uses one of these VoIP services but chances are they do unless you use Centurylink (which is not available in all areas).
In Black Hawk county the DHS workers didn't even know this until recently and were telling providers it was fine to use these services. Some areas don't even get Centurylink and have to use Mediacom but it does not matter.
This rule needs changed but our only option is to join together. Please join with me, I welcome ideas!

[SquirrellyMama]

I'm torn on this issue. We have Mediacom and the service goes out periodically so then I rely on our cell phone. The Mediacom service goes out more frequently than the regular phone service and is out for a longer period of time.

If it is the only phone service available then I don't think it is fair.

K

[nanglgrl]

I had Centurylink and it was out all of the time. I'm not the only provider this happened to and Centurylink is the only one besides A T & T that is available here. My Centurylink was out for 8 months and we had no idea because we never used it. There was water in the line which I guess is a common problem because they are so old.
A T & T plans to use fiber optic as do most phone companies sometime in the future and fiber optic is not acceptable. Sadly, I know at least one provider that does not have the option of either of these companies because they are not available. In her case she will have to have her registration revoked and appeal it. Even if this doesn't effect you now it may in the future as the other phone companies evolve.

[nanglgrl]

I'm torn on this issue. We have Mediacom and the service goes out periodically so then I rely on our cell phone. The Mediacom service goes out more frequently than the regular phone service and is out for a longer period of time.

If it is the only phone service available then I don't think it is fair.

K

Do you have Mediacom for your "landline" or another service provider?

[SquirrellyMama]

Do you have Mediacom for your "landline" or another service provider?

Mediacom is our landline provider. It goes out for no reason on beautifully sunny days.

K

[nanglgrl]

So you would have to switch to another provider. My Centurylink did the same thing. I don't think any provider is 100$ infallible these days. Century links lines are old and weathered because of our climate, Mediacom's cable is just as unreliable as it's phone...now if Cedar Falls Utilities started offering phone I would sign up because they are a great provider but I don't see that happening any time soon.

http://www.change.org/petitions/jeff-danielson-kim-anderson-chad-dahm-micki-robinson-amend-iowa-administrative-code-110-5-1#

[SquirrellyMama]

We don't have Mediacom cable so I don't know what that is like. We have their phone and internet. Like I said, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I know they want providers to always be available by phone but like you said, regular phone service isn't always reliable.

I'm legally unlicensed so I'm not sure it will be a problem for me. I only have one family with 2 kids and we text back and forth during the day if we need to get in touch.

I understand that DHS just wants to make sure that everyone is following one rule about phones. But... I'm not sure what they are proposing will be the answer.

K

[Heidi]

Im not in your state, but if they made that a rule here, I would have to go illegal, because what they are asking for no longer exists here! We only have one landline company to choose from, and they use fiber optics, I think.

[SquirrellyMama]

Im not in your state, but if they made that a rule here, I would have to go illegal, because what they are asking for no longer exists here! We only have one landline company to choose from, and they use fiber optics, I think.

This is interesting. I can imagine this will happen more and more. The new rule in Iowa may not even be feasible for long due to changing technologies.

K

[Childminder]

I'm in Mich and in 2006ish they made us put in landlines for daycare. Ticced me off because it was an extra cost I just couldn't afford and we NEVER used it. On top of that it had previously been a fax line at a local school so we would get calls in at 4 or 5 am. I then shut off the ringer after a couple of months and would dust it on occasion.

A couple years later they discontinued the landline requirement.

[nanglgrl]

If some of you from other states wouldn't mind please go to my petition and put that your states don't require it. Anything helps!

[MarinaVanessa]

I'm in CA and as long as we have a phone in our home it doesn't matter what you have. You can have fiber optic but in way it's stupid not to allow cell phones as primary lines because as long as the phone in the home rings it's all that matters to licensing. I use google voice which transfers my calls to my cell phone and to my home phone so licensing is fine with it since my home phone rings but we never use that number really, I answer my home phone but it's mostly my calls being forwarded to that phone. We use Ooma which connects and works with your internet for my home line. We pay only the phone tax and such and the phone goes out when our internet is down but I keep that line to apease licensing.

I was thinking about it and why they would require something in your state that is so obviously outdated and expensive such as copper. I'm thinking some big wigs have some deal with the copper company in your state. :confused:

[Meeko]

Our Utah requirements are just "a working phone".

I have my cell phone and I use Netttalk for my business line. At $29 for a whole YEAR of unlimited calling...it's a great deal! When I moved my daycare from one city to another, I just unplugged at one place and plugged in at the new one...no transferring etc.

Utah used to require a "hard-wired" phone too. But they changed it several years ago due to complaints (so keep at it!!) Now they just require a working phone.

If your licensing dept won't budge.....look into getting the cheapest possible service. At one time, it was possible to get very limited service here. Only incoming calls. Outgoing calls were 911 only. Maybe something like that is still available.

Also, if I understand it correctly....anything that is absolutely required by your state in order to do business is 100% tax deductible??? Maybe Tom will have that info?

[Childminder]

My husband laughed when I told him of your "copper" wired landline requirement. He said that it might be a copper wire that connects to your house but unless you live in the dark ages the wires that it connects to at the road are fiber optic or wireless.

Chances are if there is an emergency you will grab the wireless cell phone on your person NOT run to a hardwired landline. Geesh!

[MarinaVanessa]

My husband laughed when I told him of your "copper" wired landline requirement. He said that it might be a copper wire that connects to your house but unless you live in the dark ages the wires that it connects to at the road are fiber optic or wireless.

Chances are if there is an emergency you will grab the wireless cell phone on your person NOT run to a hardwired landline. Geesh!

My husband said the same thing your husband said ::