this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2025
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I get junk mail from T-Mobile & Verizon offering services that when I call them they say my address is not available for service. Both offer those services to my neighbors. How do I deal with this ? (reddthat.com)
submitted 3 days ago by TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
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[–] MuttMutt@lemmy.world 31 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If you are tired of receiving the offers send them a cease and desist letter via registered mail.

https://legalclarity.org/how-to-legally-tell-someone-to-stop-contacting-you/

If they continue contacting after about 30 days it is harassment and you can file for a restraining order and sue them for damages.

When you go to send the letters be sure to keep a copy for yourself along with the receipts for the mailing and be sure to have a witness to the mailing. I would just ask the person at the post office to do this for proof that what you sent was the same as the copy you keep for yourself.

If you want the service then you need to find out why your neighbors have the service available and you don't. That means escalating the call to a support person.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The customer support people have offered no help. Thank you, though. Interesting article!

[–] MuttMutt@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

You have to escalate beyond the regular people. General support staff are basically trained script monkeys who don't know or understand how things function or even have information that higher tier people have. If you get to a higher tier person who knows why service isn't available it might be a simple we need to run a line in the area and if a couple more people want the service we will set it up kind of deal.

Or find a better way to make things work for you. More ISP's have been created to cover the gaps that others leave than you can imagine.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"fuck this house in particular"

[–] FelixCress@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

🤣🤣🤣

[–] Jerb322@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Try and ask a field technician, if you see one. Maybe it was an issue before and they haven't updated your address...

If you're looking for cell service and your neighbors have it ,you should be able to as well. Unless you live in a valley and your neighbors are on the hill tops.

If it's land line(fiber), it might be an issue of where it's laid. Might have to pay for it to actually go to your house.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

My parents have that issue ISP wise. You can walk 100ft and have fiber service through my current provider, but their hill is run by another ISP and that ISP wants almost triple what my ISP wants for fiber so they still use DSL. They get 5-10 mbps down on a good day. It barely functions Netflix on 460p and if anyone else is using it, it fails to function.

[–] MuttMutt@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Helped a guy with a similar issue. His HOA was denying access to an ISP in the area and AT&T was shutting down its DSL service in the HOA due to line issues (the previous owner had DSL but they refused to provide service.)

Anyway his parents place was basically in line of sight to his place so I helped him setup a long range point to point link vs using a Verizon mifi that would drop to 1 Mbps about a week into the month because the high speed data (10 Mbps at his location) was all used up. His parents connection was around 250 Mbps and he was able to get around 75 Mbps at his house. He used it for around a year before the HOA was told the easement was made for utilities and since the isp was classified as a utility they couldn't deny access. Didn't stop multiple people like the HOA president from pulling utility marker flags and putting up signs for no trespassing right at the road edge even though the easement was about 5 feet into their property.

https://ispdesign.ui.com/ is a good way to figure out if it will work for you to set something up. Just be sure that you buy equipment with the same frequency you are using in the configuration (the fresnel zone is different for different frequencies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_zone) and most any brand equipment will work. If you have questions I will do my best to answer.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I live far enough away that this might not be a feasible route but, that's an interesting option, I haden't thought of it. Granted I am not as close as you are but, according to the site with the correct transponder I might be able to still. I would need to look into regulatory requirements to it though as that's a bit of a distance over the air.

thank you for that idea, defo something I will look into and if it works I'll discuss it with them!

[–] MuttMutt@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

All the wifi stuff like that is in the public spectrum in the us. Only regulatory requirements are for towers and things of that nature.

You can also setup repeaters in a similar fashion to make it work. An old radio tower from ebay or a telephone pole in a field with a couple units, a battery, and a solar panel creates the link just as easy. The WISP I worked for around 2010 did this to bounce a signal about 15 miles over some rough terrain and a military base. They provided free internet for the land owner to do it.

[–] ILikeTraaaains@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Why an HOA would deny access to the ISP?

I’m not from the states and the HOA stories I’ve read are crazy, but all were about aesthetics and how supposedly hurts neighbourhood value.

Fiber/cable doesn’t go buried hidden from sight? A place that doesn’t have modern internet connectivity doesn’t have its value negatively impacted?

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago

Often the people who decide to take on such an annoying unpaid position do so because they want to abuse the power.,

[–] MuttMutt@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I don't remember what all it was but part of the issue was that the long term residents had internet through AT&T so they figured that was good enough. They also insisted that new residents could get DSL because they had it even though that wasn't true.

Beyond that there were going to be more boxes installed in front of a few houses and the complaints about property values being reduced. Along with the HOA president befitting a major jerk since he was in control of a whopping 17 houses.

[–] twack@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

How long have you lived there?

I wonder if your address is blacklisted from a previous user for some reason.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Blacklists are illegal for public services.

Thank you for that.

[–] twack@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I wasn't sure what you were trying to get access to, I had assumed internet.

I didn't think internet counted as a public service, but I could be wrong there too.

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Maybe not a blacklist, but I know a house I lived at previously (back in the era when landline telephone was fading out but still common) one phone company didn’t offer residential service at my address but did for neighbors’ addresses and kept telling me I could only get business service. I assume a previous resident had used business service and the address was then in their system as the location of a business. Perhaps something similar is happening to you.

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I wonder if you could take all of that mail and just dump it into a post box somewhere else and if they would generate additional postage billing when they delivered them back to your house.

[–] Hello_there@fedia.io 3 points 2 days ago
  1. Get a po box and ask for them to send info to you and use that box when signing up.
  2. See if alternate providers are available. Those suck. If you're doing mobile service look at the resellers. Worse service but better prices. Redpocket. Mint. Etc.
  3. Buy some roofing tiles and put in the prepaid envelopes they give you and send em back.
[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Visible with unlimited data and hotspots: more versatile, cheaper and less time-consuming than dealing with either of those fuckers.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

yeah that is just verizon rebranded

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Nope! Visible is owned by Verizon but fortunately offers different services and functions separately.

Human customer service, remote setup, actual unlimited plans, 20 bucks a month, no contracts.

Visible is functionally different and a better customer experience than verizon and other providers in every way, they just get to use verizon networks.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I've been a very satisfied Visible customer for a looong time

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

Over 5 years for me too, and i actually called them up to ask if they were a scam the first month because it was so easy to sign up and cheap for unlimited data.

They said "no" and i said "okay".