Hello, Salem? Hello?

I needed to fax some tax-credit documents to the Oregon Dept. of Energy in Salem.  Easy, right?

I started dialing early this morning - busy.  I waited until after 8:30 (maybe they don't turn on the fax until someone is in the office) - busy.

I tried after 9:00 am - busy.

Although Salem is within my Area Code, it is necessary to dial 1 first - no question about that.

Oddly, though, when I called the fax number from my cell phone, their fax machine answered.

What the heck?  Why can't my land-line call Salem (I tried the ODOE's regular voice phone number - 503-378-4040, too - consistently busy).

Time to call phone companies. 

I got frustrated quickly with the Qwest phone-tree, so thought I'd go directly to my Long-Distance provider (Credo).  I got someone on the phone quickly, but, after researching the path that my call would take, concluded that the call was not technically Long Distance, but was under the control of Qwest (i.e. CenturyLink).

Called Qwest and finally got a human who transferred me to another person, who described in great detail the technical path that my call would take, thru various phone networks.  She concluded that it was Credo's fault, and I mentioned that I had already spoken with them, and they denied involvement.  She then looked further and said it appears that the call had been routed to some other network - she had a Support phone number but didn't know exactly who would answer the call.

I called - Verizon answered, and, after hearing the problem, said that it was Qwest's issue, and that they couldn't help me because they needed technical information that comes from Qwest, not me.

I drove up to Karen's office and sent the damn fax from there - no problem.

Good thing I don't have to frequently call anyone in Salem.  Now, the question is, do I get back on the line with Qwest, or get back to my normal life?