Do I Need This Phone Wire?

Yeah, that's an annoyance. I'm not an expert, however, if you don't cap off the wire properly it could short. This may cause problems for your neighbors.

You may want to call your former phone company and explain to them what you want done. Since you're not a customer they shouldn't charge you for removal of their equipment. May be worth a shot.

I wouldn't expect any technical issues resulting from disconnecting it, but you may want to consult the phone company before doing so. They may try to hit you with fees or even a suit for tampering with the line without their consent. Also, if you ever decide to renew your service with the company, they may try to tack on a service charge for reconnecting the line - even if you can do it yourself.

That's the Telco's property. Anything past the demarc box on the side of your house towards the pole is their property.

Agreed with A/C. It's probably worth a shot to call the telco and see if they will at least raise the line to eliminate the annoying slack, as that is at least a small safety hazard. Maybe they will even reroute it for you.

Also, if you do choose to go rogue, remember that the line carries voltage. It's probably not enough to kill you, but if you were standing in water while a call was coming in and you touched the live wire, you would get a jolt of somewhere between 45 to 90 volts (happened to me once when I was relocating a phone line under a leaky commercial roof).

It could always "come loose" on it's own. Just report it as "hanging down". How it happened is anyone's guess.

they won't talk to you about a service call if you do not have an active account.

Solleks, there are many issues to consider.

Another poster pointed out that the telco owns the line to the demarcation point (demarc), and that demarc is right on your house. Touching any of that is technically a violation of law, and assuredly destroying it is.

Calling the telco isn't going to help, since as another poster pointed out, you're not a customer.

Of course, nobody is really going to stop you from carefully cutting it off, taping the end, coiling it up, and then wiring it to the pole to keep it out of the way (particularly anyone's way). That won't be the end of it, however ... since the telco can always come out and do some work on that pole, and will notice the hanging/secured cable. They might even endeavor to re-attach it to your house later.

If you don't own the house, or intend to move on in the foreseeable future, removing the cable is really bad action. You're essentially forcing a future tenant or owner to pay the telco for a line-reattachment fee. If the telco classifies the detached line as a downed line, that might not happen, but if it's classified like that, then they might be re-attaching it to your house anyway.

Given there are some consequences for taking the matter into your own hands (or snips), I suggest you contact the PUCO or FCC for the Toledo area, and determine if there is an option for a homeowner permanently removing the phone line run to his residence(s). This may not be a quick process, but at least in the case of the government, they can't claim that you're not a customer of theirs. Good luck.