FIOS FITS

Nothing Important Here Move Along “ In preparation for MoSup's tour of Europe with her sister, I  set up my notebook so she could check e-mail, and installed SKYPE so she could call.  It took me a few days to sanitizing, etc.  At the last minute she said the notebook was too heavy, and her sister had purchased (for $100) a phone from an outfit called  Travel Cell.  You can't use it to make a call, but people can call the user with a special number.  This worked fine for 3-4 days, but of a sudden I began getting "The country you are calling cannot be reached by direct dial WN009"  I tried everything, including asking my son (who is in Russia) to call her Swiss hotel.  Why?  Because I was unable to dial it  on my Verizon phone!   He e-mailed back that the clerk said they were out drinking, but gave me her room number.  He had no trouble.  I try calling the Swiss hotel again, with no success, so I Dial "O" for operator.  I am given a half dozen options, none of which include call assistance.  I call 411 and am told they can't dial long distance so I said WTF? is going on and she says dial "OO" and they will help you. I dial "OO" and got a menu of options none of which pertain to me, but I picked one (billing).  A live person said she couldn't dial for me, but call the operator.  I told her that I had without any success. "You have to dial 'OO and do nothing.  An operator will then pick up (I am not making this up)'"  So I did, and a live lady picked up and I told her what was going on and she said that shouldn't be happening, I'm going to put you through to tech." The line went dead.  I dialed "OO" again - same drill - and eventually  got customer assistance.  The robot voice  says, "Your confidentiality is important to us. Please verify by giving me your account number"  WHAT"!  "Your confidentiality is important to us. Please verify by giving me your account number"   Me: I don't have that information right now,  I'm calling you on my home phone, which you plainly see,  so unless I just broke in to use their phone, I am the customer!  "I don't understand.  Let me rephrase. Please say or type your billing number."  Arrggggh!  I slammed the phone and went to Verizon's "IN HOME ASSISTANT" on the computer.  I punched the "Live Chat"  option and a half hour later I still had no on line chatter (even though I was "3rd in the queue," so I hung up.  Today I got this E-mail Dear Rodger, TravelCell tried calling the phone and it rang just fine. It could be at the time you called the phone was switched off? Please advise if you are still having trouble reaching your wife. Okay, I'll bite.  "The country you are calling cannot be reached by direct dial WN009" FkM! I  used SKYPE to call the Swiss Hotel. Answer:  Very nice lady's voice said something that sounded like "Misseur, your voice has excited me in a certain way, but you would probably think I am too young for you, alas.  What other way may I help you?" "ROOM 2307, DING DING -  DING DING MoSup Answered!  And let me tell you, it was the best, clearest connection I have ever experienced!  and all via ear buds on my $200 recon'd ACER notebook.  SKYPE is my new phone for everything. Of course all of you have been using SKYPE for ages but I'm old,  and don't cotton to new things that easily. As fas as this whole post goes, I would never read anything this long and tedious, but guess what?  It's an  e-mail to Verizon customer service. I'm changing my plan with them. I'm just taking double credit here. ”