ANDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — What do you do if your landline cordless phone does not work? First, you check if the battery is charged and the handset has power. But, if the phone is out of range, you have to take extra steps.

Laura, of Anderson County, did everything she could, even calling the phone company. She tried unplugging her faulty cordless phone, letting it sit for about 10 minutes, hoping to fix the problem.

With no results, she called WATE’s Don Dare to see if he could help.

She put in a repair ticket with the phone company about four weeks ago, but it was not until Dare contacted them that a repairman was dispatched and fixed the line.

Laura is a widow and her daughter-in-law, Martha, lives nearby. They have asked to not use their last name. Laura does have a cell phone but rarely uses it. Being without her hardwire phone service is difficult.

“It’s dead, no service, no dial tone,” Laura said.

Martha is concerned about her mother-in-law’s phone service. Since about the first week in January, Laura hasn’t been able to use her phone. The landline phone with AT&T service has been part of her life for as long as she can remember.

“I’m so used to this. I can’t ever remember as we were growing up that we didn’t have a telephone. I’ll be 89 in about 4 weeks,” Laura said.

“She is unable to call out. She has no dial tone, she cannot call out or receive calls. It presents some problems. If she didn’t feel well or had an emergency, she couldn’t call 911. She couldn’t call me,” Martha said.

Laura wears a medical alert system as a necklace, a simple way to stay protected as she lives alone since her husband passed away.

“We check on her quite often but anything can happen. Especially, I’ve become concerned that she might fall,” Martha said.

“That’s my call for help. If I fall or I’m sick, need an ambulance or need help,” Laura said.

Without her phone working, there’s no direct line to Laura. There is also a security system at Laura’s house.

“So we tested the alert system. In the meantime, the security company had called 911,” said Martha.

The security company gets the alert and calls her home, but Laura’s phone does not ring.

“It does not ring here. She does not know they’re calling,” Martha said.

Laura has called AT&T asking for assistance. But when Dare visited, no one had yet been to her home to either check or repair the issue. Martha talked with customer service.

“They indicate that the equipment is old, that it is not just a problem to this house, there are other houses along this line that have problems too,” Martha said.

So Dare got in touch with AT&T. A spokesperson wrote to WATE, “Our technicians restored home phone service following repairs made to our buried cable. We confirmed her service is operating normally.”

Laura told WATE she was pleased and feels a lot safer. AT&T also added that Laura is being refunded the payment she made for her January bill.

If you are an AT&T customer and you have experienced issues with their service, there are three ways to reach them. Either at ATT.com, on the My AT&T app or over the phone at (800) 288-2020.