Hi SomeJoe and anadunkerra -

well, I'll just summarize.... another outside tech came out Thursday 3-3-11. I told him my ongoing saga of frustration. I've told every tech that I speak with that the underground line from my house to the pole has scotchlocks on it. I cut the line 20+ years ago with a garden shovel and repaired it with scotchlocks and electrical tape. 

The tech realized that even though the wires are connected - THE GROUND IS NOT. So he promptly replaced the line from house to pole. I've had one re-train last evening - around 8PM.

I'll continue to monitor, but I'm encouraged to see better reliability.