This week my home phone started bristling with static. Again. Had the same problem a year ago, thought it was something with the cordless phone. After many weeks finally got a repair guy to come out and he discovered it was a short at AT&T’s junction box.

Now it’s back. This time I didn’t hesitate, but after using AT&T’s oh-so-helpful online diagnostic tool (which says the problem “is with your phone”), there’s a new kink: Namely, the phone here rings, one time, every two hours, on the half-hour. All day and all night. Just the one ring, but that’s enough to wake you up at 1:30am, 3:30am, and 5:30am, I promise.

Only took six minutes on hold with AT&T to determine they “had me on a repeat code.”

Meanwhile my appointment to fix the static looms. The scheduled time for the repair: “Any time on Friday.” Midnight to midnight, I presume.

For the record, because you’ll never find it on AT&T’s website, the number for the AT&T repair center is 1-866-346-1168.

Update: And 4 hours later, it’s still ringing…