  tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3 | They aren't shooting the lines... they are trying to hit the squirrels. | |
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| | if the lines where Underground you wouldnt have to deal with people using it for target practice or the furry animals. | |
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| pinjas
join:2011-01-31
River Falls, WI | Re: if the lines where Alright, you start diggin. | |
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| | | You would just have to deal with Bubba's fiber location service and 4 times the cost. | |
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| KC
join:2006-11-08
Ottawa, ON | No ,just idiots with shovels and backhoes. | |
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| | iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 | Re: if the lines where Cell phones were out, landlines were local-only and DSL was flakey to nonexistent for that very reason spring of last year in the TX hill country... | |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | Call before you dig... well at least L3 tells people about the cables...
unlike a few years ago when they where expanding the DC Metro and cut fiber that was not on any city planning or on the lists of any other carriers in that ROW. so when they started digging after the CBYD guys came they cut government fiber that was "unlisted".
I sure hope the black SUVs showed up around 12noon so the Forman could tell the black suits. "Sorry union mandated lunch break"
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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| | | Re: Call before you dig... Maybe that "unlisted" fiber was running right to AT&T snoop rooms. | |
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| | | | Re: Call before you dig... It was. The road crew had no idea that anything (other than dirt and rocks) had been "disturbed" until the black SUVs showed up and dudes with bulges under their suit jackets jumped out and started pushing people around. The funny part was later when the Feds tried to bill the road contractor for the cost of the repair. The contractor pointed to the official county maps which showed there was no fiber (or anything else) at that location, ergo, there could not have possibly been anything to repair, ergo, take this bill for phantom work and shove it where the sun don't shine. I suppose the silliness would have been understandable if it had occurred inside the beltway, but this was about a mile outside the beltway.
dw | |
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| | It just HAS to be said... To images #4 and #7, "Your Shipment of Fail Has Arrived."
Regards | |
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| | Don't feel sorry for them -the lines should be underground! Really stupid to blame animals and gun owners when they should blame companies for placing ugly wires everywhere on poles in the first place... Not just the little FIOS fiber lines, but dangerous (and ugly) POWER lines should be BANNED from poles! Poles were needed in the early 1900's but technology has advanced and ALL lines can be underground. They are just lazy and cheap! I'm shocked most small cities didn't make this a law... my power goes out all the time because of idiotic poles, not to mention FIRES starting from downed lines ... | |
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| | | Re: Don't feel sorry for them -the lines should be underground! OK, bury them all. However, during the winter with 5 feet of snow on top of frozen ground, its going to be real fun trying to fix a problem.  | |
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| | TheMGPremium
join:2007-09-04
Canada
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy DSL
| Re: Don't feel sorry for them -the lines should be underground! Doesn't seem to stop anyone around here from effecting repairs. Average temperature below -20C in winter. Frost line IIRC is 6 feet.
All the newer areas, both residential and commercial, in our city have buried power lines, telephone, fiber, etc. Nothing on poles.
In areas where the poles are in need of replacement or relocation, they often just bury the lines. Directional drilling contractors are definitely keeping busy! | |
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| KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | because the poles are already there? and that is the available ROW. remember that most of this country was built before underground was a viable option outside of cities.
most new developments are buried but it would be far too costly to refit every single ROW to be buried. also some places the terrain makes it impossible.
power lines are normally only dangerous when mixed with idiots.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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| | | said by cruz1 :Really stupid to blame animals and gun owners when they should blame companies for placing ugly wires everywhere on poles in the first place... Not just the little FIOS fiber lines, but dangerous (and ugly) POWER lines should be BANNED from poles! Poles were needed in the early 1900's but technology has advanced and ALL lines can be underground. They are just lazy and cheap! I'm shocked most small cities didn't make this a law... my power goes out all the time because of idiotic poles, not to mention FIRES starting from downed lines ...
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you have no idea what-so-ever as to the cost of trenching all those lines that are overhead. | |
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| Reviews:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| You, sir, obviously have no idea of the cost of putting power underground. For telephone cable more than 15 years ago, the going rate was around $5 per foot and was at 24 inches. Power needs to go deeper so increase the cost.
Feel to write a check though. | |
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| iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 | Capex for buried lines is maybe 5x what aerial costs. Are you willing to see your electric bill go up by $50 per month to finance putting your wiring underground when there's perfectly good aerial plant available? | |
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| |  Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | Re: Don't feel sorry for them -the lines should be underground! said by iansltx:Capex for buried lines is maybe 5x what aerial costs. Are you willing to see your electric bill go up by $50 per month to finance putting your wiring underground when there's perfectly good aerial plant available?
I would not call it perfectly good.
I think most people would be willing to pay an extra $50 a month if it mean no above ground wires which also means no stupid reasons for power outages.
In areas with underground wires, during bad stores I never lost power. Any other neighborhood around with above ground wires would be out.
Back in 97 the chicago area had a really bad snow storm. My house with underground wires saw 5 hours of outage while above ground wires saw a few days to over a week with outages while it was 0 deg F outside. It is worth it to bury the lines. | |
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| | | | | Re: Don't feel sorry for them -the lines should be underground! Not me... leave all the services up on the poles... unless we can come up with new ways to deliver utilities to our homes... | |
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| | | iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 | Depends on where you live.
Here, power goes out very rarely. Then again, right now everyone around here would LOVE for a hurricane to rip everything up. Means we'd actually get some water... | |
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| rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Power in my 30-year-old neighborhood is buried and it still goes out. They just dug a six foot hole next to my driveway to patch the underground wires. Apparently the insulation had failed and permitted one of the underground high-voltage loops to arc and it melted a section of cable.
I agree that there should be fewer problems but it isn't problem free. I've owned this house for 10 years and this is the second place in my yard they've had to conduct this type of repair. They have also trenched other parts of the subdivision and completely replaced large runs. Apparently the PSC has rules in place that govern how many times power can go out before they expect the power company to improve the transmission lines. So far this year, I've only had one outage longer than a few minutes but in past years, we've been out several times a year for more than half a day. | |
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| | | I am hoping this is sarcasm and everyone else doesn't get it. | |
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Reviews:
 ·Optimum Online
·Verizon FiOS
| redundancy, much? putting all your route eggs in ONE basket is stupid..
also, when it's not clearly marked and published, you get what you deserve....
these jokes seem tailored to deploying fiber in the south, huh...
I always wondered why rural folk weren't as interested in having companies have right of way over their land to deploy fiber.. now you know. Still, it's quite possible that rights of way could be negotiated with the federal highway system for their land access rights.. dont' forget, the land they bought to build roads don't ONLY include just the pavement you can see, but a margin for expansion & infrastructure too in some cases. | |
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| Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| Re: redundancy, much? said by tmc8080:putting all your route eggs in ONE basket is stupid..
also, when it's not clearly marked and published, you get what you deserve....
these jokes seem tailored to deploying fiber in the south, huh...
I always wondered why rural folk weren't as interested in having companies have right of way over their land to deploy fiber.. now you know. Still, it's quite possible that rights of way could be negotiated with the federal highway system for their land access rights.. dont' forget, the land they bought to build roads don't ONLY include just the pavement you can see, but a margin for expansion & infrastructure too in some cases.
For certain parts of a network it would be ridiculous to have multiple routes, others do have them and for good reason. I know my uncle has a hard time when he does digging around roads because they usually let him know there is fibre there, just not how deep. Guess what happens to his job if he hits a line of fibre? | |
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| |  AVDRespice, Adspice, ProspicePremium
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ | Re: redundancy, much? he gets overtime.. | |
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| iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Verizon Online DSL
·Comcast
| In some cases fiber does go along interstates...pretty sure that's the case with a local telephone co-op's long-range span. Though some of the glass runs along US and state highways because not everyone lives within five miles of an interstate.
As far as putting all your route eggs in one basket goes, that's why you build a fiber ring...cheaper than two redundant paths but you can still fail over when needed. Also, some places are uneconomical to have a diverse fiber route to... | |
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 v35_pilotWhoops, there goes another AMUPremium
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY | Wha??? Little furry nut eater?
Ah, I hate when I mix up words. | |
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| | Squirrel chews Squirrel chews have been a problem for aerial telephone cables from the beginning, so it's just fiber's urn now. | |
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| | | Re: Squirrel chews and those armoror "squrell guards" dont work, as after some time they fall off the lines, and get tossed away during a roadside cleanup. | |
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 CheesePremium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
kudos:1 | lol at pic | |
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| | | Re: lol Put a light outside layer, and then on the inside of the light outside layer, fill it with cyanide.
Then the layer after that is super strong. | |
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tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Comcast
| The thing that doesn't make much sense here is that L3 The thing that doesn't make much sense here is that L3's fiber is largely(if not all) backbone, which is usually 99.9% underground (only last mile, temp or otherwise IMPOSSIBLE runs are left above ground)
I could understand them having buried Row encroched on, but they shouldn't have alot of aerial stuff to be damaged.
Me thinks the author took some popular stories and presents them as his own/L3 own problem.
Funny, but not really accurate. | |
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| chimera
join:2009-06-09
Washington, DC Reviews:
·Comcast
| Re: The thing that doesn't make much sense here is that L3 Given the fact that this is coming from the L3 blog AND he states that the single most common cause is construction companies not calling before they did. I think it's pretty accurate. Remember, not calling before you dig cuts underground cables which is EXACTLY what you would expect to be their number one problem given how much of their fiber is underground. So when he then goes onto say that 17% of their outages over the past year were caused by tree rats, I can believe it. | |
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| | Yeah.... I work in the NOC at Level 3, and I can honestly say that the number 1 reason is dead on. Number two is also dead on. Seen it occur many a times.
Those buffer tubes carry a LOT......a LOOOOOT.... | |
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| | | Re: Yeah.... said by Cheeze It :I work in the NOC at Level 3, and I can honestly say that the number 1 reason is dead on. Number two is also dead on. Seen it occur many a times.
Those buffer tubes carry a LOT......a LOOOOOT....
Yep - crack an 864ct ribbon-fiber that's running under DWDM - it'll spoil your whole day. | |
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TheMGPremium
join:2007-09-04
Canada
kudos:1 Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| Vandalism I've seen several occurrences of it at some of my company's sites. Some of them are pretty wild.
In one occurrence, a few people poured a can of gasoline around and under the equipment shack, and lit the gasoline on fire. That's after climbing over a 10 foot high chainlink fence with double rows of barbed wire at the top! Thankfully, the building did not catch fire, due to the steel siding and other fire resistant materials. The perpetrators were eventually caught and prosecuted. | |
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| | Redundancy We've had service interruptions four times in the last year that were Level3 "cuts"... oops no, one of those was failure in a hardware component. Regardless, where was the redundancy that would make most of those problems just a reduction in service. Something is not what it seems. Or should be. I wonder what shortcut was taken? | |
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| | Laying cable I saw a 'convoy' of caterpillars laying fiber once
Lead cat had like a seriously heavy duty single blade plow racking a groove in desert
Behind it a ways was another just like first, plowing in same groove and I figured it was maybe deeper
Then a third with similar looking plow deal but had a huge spool of cable too that was feeding into the plow blade - and it sort of raked the loose dirt back over gouge
I never saw if they tried to smooth down the disturbed ground but it wasn't tore up that much, considering
They were moving at a pretty good clip for a tracked vehicle dragging a honker of a plow... | |
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jfmezeiPremium
join:2007-01-03
Pointe-Claire, QC
kudos:22 Reviews:
·ELECTRONICBOX
| Disgruntled ex employees or customers If, while you lived, you were a digruntled ex telco employee or customer and got reborn as a squirrel after your death, wouldn't you instinctively just love to gnaw on them telco wires between poles knowing you are causing the telco lots of trouble ?
The lesson here is for telcos to treat customers and employees well today if they want future squirrels to stop gnawing on their cable plant.
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·
The study forget the illiterates!
Several years ago a new data center in South Florida lost all telephone and data service. Why? Although the company, at great cost, had two terminal rooms constructed on opposite corners of the building. Management had posted bilingual signs at each location where the cable entered the building, warning anyone digging in the area to call building maintenance before proceeding. The illiterates replacing some irrigation lines cut both entrance cables with a ditch witch about 6 inches from the wall. In many cases laborers cannot read warning signs indicating that there is a buried cable or recognize the purpose of a warning tape installed a foot or two over the actual cable. 
