Is there a basic device like this that I can buy locally in Delaware or Maryland? Who carries these? Or should I ask the guy in the Verizon van next time I see it?
No, you don't need to do that.
You mentioned that you have an intermittent short. That's usually house wiring. Maybe the builder put a staple through the wire. That's not unknown and it's hard to troubleshoot. We can see this from a test desk, but we can't tell you where it is remotely unless it is in our loop. We can see what distance it is from our CO. The phone wiring in your house is a common loop, which is phone company jargon for the same electrical connection to all the outlets (phone jacks). If that loop is compromised then none of it works. The usual procedure is fault isolation, which involves first testing to the network interface to ensure that the problem is not on the telco side. This we fix for free. The second step involves identifying the problem on the subscriber side of the network interface. We charge for this based on time and materials. It isn't inexpensive but it is a professional service. We have maintenance plans which are relatively inexpensive (inside wiring insurance) which you can buy. Inside wiring rarely fails so we can make money on this. Take out of that what you like but if a wire maintenance plan costs $4.00 a month and a technician visit costs $120.00 for a half hour and $50 for every half hour after that then do the math. You can add or delete the maintenance plan at will. If you are not getting my drift... Of course I will likely be taken out and shot for pointing this out, but, hey, those are the rules.
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