I'm currently on day 9 or so without a dialtone in the apartment, but at least the DSL is working. I finally managed to get hold of customer service and schedule a repair visit to take place tomorrow afternoon. At 5 of 7 PM today, as I was on my way to a nice Indian cuisine dinner with friends, a tech called to say he'd be coming to check out the problem. I wasn't here, so he did all the external tests that he could. So, the appointment is still on for tomorrow...