Telephone lines

As we were driving home today, Hero noticed some men working on the telephone wires. She said that maybe the reason our phone was out (on Saturday and Sunday) was because someone had been working on the wires and they forgot to put ours back in. While this wasn't exactly the case with ours, I was amazed at the way she had thought this all through. She then proceeded to tell her brother that the phone lines go all the way up to Oregon, and that is how we talk to Meredith.
On a side note, our phone was out because the line that links our street to the phone line was severed. Funny thing is, only our house was affected?! We received our Verizon bill today. It has a little note on it that says, "Our 99.99% reliability for voice service means you'll probably never need to call us." How do they come up with 99.99% when my service has been interrupted twice? Oh yes, if you ever need repair service from Verizon, they will show up between 8Am and 8PM the next day. How convenient. Just give them a call...