 King Duck
join:2005-04-10
Elizabeth City, NC | Hmmmmm... "The company said that someone vandalized the fiber-optic lines"
Time Warner have figured out how to send light down copper?
Quick!! Someone tell Verizon!
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH | Re: Hmmmmm... Yeah, how much copper is in fiber optic cables ?? | |
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| | rayeger
join:2003-07-05
North Royalton, OH | Re: Hmmmmm... The people who cut the fiber probably didnt know it wasnt copper until after they cut it, especially if it was inside a conduit under a bridge. | |
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH | Re: Hmmmmm... At the original story, in the comments, someone did say there's copper in those lines but a very small amount. As you say though, it's "wire" and normally safe to assume copper or aluminum. | |
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| | smcallah
join:2004-08-05
Home | Re: Hmmmmm... Yeah, because they can splice in fiber in the middle of copper lines, and that will work with the equipment on either end of the copper. | |
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mwf
join:2000-11-26
Granite Quarry, NC | Thieves are stupid You're assuming thieve are smart.
Do away with places to sell scrap copper, this kind of crap would end. At least do what pawn shops do and require positive id from the sellers. | |
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jjsk8r85
join:2005-02-17
Belleville, MI
| Re: Thieves are stupid I've scrapped metal before (steel and stainless steel from work:P) here in michigan, and any place that i've been to requires only a social security number, name, and address, but doesn't cross check the information you write down to anything else. someone could fill out the form like this:
Big Bird
123 Sesame Street
Nowhere, USA
SS#: 123-456-7890
and no one would ever know the difference. | |
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| | moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD | Re: Thieves are stupid Any place caught with forms filled out that way should be shut down for impropper record keeping. | |
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CrazyFingers
join:2003-10-01
Columbia, MO
| Re: Thieves are stupid said by moonpuppy  :Any place caught with forms filled out that way should be shut down for impropper record keeping. Yes, impropper recordd keepping is a terribble scourgge on our societty.
Whenn, oh WHENN will it endd? | |
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| | | | moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Thieves are stupid said by CrazyFingers :said by moonpuppy :Any place caught with forms filled out that way should be shut down for impropper record keeping. Yes, impropper recordd keepping is a terribble scourgge on our societty. Whenn, oh WHENN will it endd? They already shut down pawn shops here for bad record keeping since they like to accept stolen property.  | |
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| madrhino
join:2004-07-03
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
| said by mwf :You're assuming thieve are smart. Do away with places to sell scrap copper, this kind of crap would end. Then what do the small plumbers,aluminum window installers,electricians and contractors who have been selling scrap for years before the price shot up do?
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Get Verizon FIOS,The Anti-DIOS | |
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| Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | even for legit work id refuse my SSN to a scrap yard and go somewhere else. this day in age how can i be sure of their security measures.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL
| Re: Thieves are stupid said by Kearnstd :even for legit work id refuse my SSN to a scrap yard and go somewhere else. this day in age how can i be sure of their security measures. Yea using a SSN to ID isn't exactly acceptable practice anymore. Here's my DL#, deal with it.
On another line of thought, you can't really just start assuming stuff is stolen either. Heck, back 8 yrs or so ago I had a big ol box full of 25 & 50 pair to scrap that came from rewiring the office. Man that box was heavy. Wish I had that same thing today, even counting the sheathing taken off that thing was at least 100lbs.
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TheGlobalMind.com | Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go? | Angus the IT Chap | |
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jc100
join:2002-04-10
| It Pays.. But risk is real A Thief here electrocuted himself when trying to steal copper from a power line. However, from their perspective it pays to take the risk. At 3.50 dollars a pound, 50 pounds will yield you a weeks worth of work (at minimum wage) for a few hours of stealing. Figure this: 7 dollars an hour x 30 hrs a week = 210 Dollars. Less 30 percent for taxes and you got 150 dollars. A thief who is desperate for money doesn't care about the 10's of thousands in damage her or she causes. Merely, they think about the quick pay day. I guarantee you most people doing this are NOT your well employed people. They are either kids looking for a quick buck or adults that want to get some extra money. Either way, it's wrong, but that's my guess on their rationale. | |
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vpoko
Premium
join:2003-07-03
Jamaica Plain, MA
| Re: It Pays.. But risk is real said by jc100 :I guarantee you most people doing this are NOT your well employed people. That's about the safest prediction I've seen here. | |
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toadlife
Premium
join:2004-05-03
Lemoore, CA
·AT&T Yahoo
| said by jc100 :They are either kids looking for a quick buck or adults that want to get some extra money. Either way, it's wrong, but that's my guess on their rationale. The people that steal copper are mostly meth addicts looking to score some crank.
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Hate your enemies. Save your friends. Find your place. Speak the truth. | |
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| wev567
join:2006-02-25
Pittsburgh, PA | $3.50 a pound is the price for copper on the commodity markets - they will not get that much from your friendly neighborhood scrap yard. Everyone needs to make a profit off their ill-gotten booty... | |
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| | jc100
join:2002-04-10
| Re: It Pays.. But risk is real So figure they get 2 dollars a pound and steal 50 pounds. 100 Dollars for a minimum wage worker is still three days work @ 7 dollars an hour. $7 x 24 = 168 less 30 percent in taxes... and that leaves you with roughly 115-120 dollars. Assuming you get 2 dollars or a bit over, that's still not a bad payday for someone living check by check. Therefore, my assessment stands. It's either kids or low paid workers that are causing this havoc. | |
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| raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| Re: lets hit the power lines said by Subaru :I want to see 25,000V hit that body thats going to make him dance The only dancing that you would see would be the smoke dancing in the breeze after the cretin is fried. | |
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Ream0
@rr.com
| And If Their Caught ...The judge will give them a tiny pat on the butt and send them off with probation. If this happened in Los Angeles and you saw it happen and dialed 911,you would see the LAPD show up three hours later,then jump out of the squad car with guns drawn!
The Rewards a little flaky too!
"leading to the arrest and conviction" So if the prosecuting,Government employed jackoff, attorney fucks up the case you'll lose your reward. | |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
 ·Skype
| Re: And If Their Caught It's not all a loss. For the dumbasses stealing copper from substations, the laws of physics will catch up with them sooner or later even if societal laws don't.
Unfortunately for them, substation equipment makes for a good judge, jury, and executioner, does it without appeal and the sentencing takes about a half a second.
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Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com | |
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fiber_man
Things Happen For A Reason
Premium
join:2001-01-27
Port Saint Lucie, FL | 190 volt on phone lines The new equipment being used on phone lines is using 190 volts. You know when you hit/cut it. It will light you up. I for one don't feel sorry for the people stealing the copper.
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GO NOLES!! | |
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X_Digit
Binary Enhanced
Premium
join:2003-06-12
Mansfield, TX
| Wrong place... I know somebody will take this as a racial response (however, it's based on statistics)... they're lookin' in the wrong place! I work for a local PD, and 90% of the copper thefts are from Hispanic males (no surprise as this is Texas). They need to be looking at the border! I'm sure smuggling copper is now as big as the drug issue. Mexico friends... it's 90% of the problem. | |
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tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| Marked or Unmarked? Fiber conduits are supposed to be MARKED every few hundred feet with either RED, YELLOW or some other special color designation for each carrier in a region.. This is the way Verizon doesn't get confused with mistaking its lines for a cable company's neighborhood node fiber...
As for the copper... it's days of being up on poles is numbered.. if not from the deadly liaisons of would-be thieves.. from the march of technology into telecom/cablecom.
Hey, I just thought of something... ya know, COAX has copper as well.. maybe they'll go after the coax too.. Why do they primarily pick on telco copper? Another incentive to get fiber marching into people's homes/buildings. Cut fiber optics (for the most part) is worthless junk. | |
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burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
EN22wm
·Mediacom
·FrontierNet Intern..
| Re: Marked or Unmarked? said by tmc8080 :ya know, COAX has copper as well.. maybe they'll go after the coax too.. Why do they primarily pick on telco copper? Because most coaxial cable is copper-clad steel, and basically worthless | |
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MacLeech
The one and only
Premium
join:2001-07-14
SoCal
| Re: Marked or Unmarked? said by burner50 :said by tmc8080 :ya know, COAX has copper as well.. maybe they'll go after the coax too.. Why do they primarily pick on telco copper? Because most coaxial cable is copper-clad steel, and basically worthless Hardline is copper-clad aluminum. Drop and house cable is often copper-clad steel.
Copper alone is too expensive.
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Don't mind me, I'm just trying to help...
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jimzzzak
Premium
join:2006-10-08
Austin, TX
| caught in the act I caught 2 guys at my home site in Austin.
They had just snipped off the bundle of large electrical wires that was exiting my house before a electrical box was installed and then hooked to the grid.
I got their license plate as they drove away and 2 days later I identified the driver in a photo line-up.
Now at least one of the guys is facing felony charges because they decided to rip off the next door neighbor's toolbox at the same time.
So if he had not stopped to snip off 4 bucks worth of copper from my future home, he wouldn't have to face a prison sentence. 
The scrap yard is 3 blocks away. | |
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| Raz0r
join:2000-02-01
Vallejo, CA
| Re: caught in the act The Big thing it seems to steal around where I live are Catalytic Converters from people's trucks. Just need to be high enough to get under and then they hack them off. The owner at a later time Starts the truck up and now has a loud exhaust problem. Sometimes the oxygen sensor is taken right along with it. They are worth quite a bit of money. My guess is more then the Copper. | |
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| | madrhino
join:2004-07-03
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
| Re: caught in the act said by Raz0r :The Big thing it seems to steal around where I live are Catalytic Converters from people's trucks. Just need to be high enough to get under and then they hack them off. The owner at a later time Starts the truck up and now has a loud exhaust problem. Sometimes the oxygen sensor is taken right along with it. They are worth quite a bit of money. My guess is more then the Copper. They have platinum in them
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Get Verizon FIOS,The Anti-DIOS | |
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TWsucks
@rr.com
|  TW Sucks !!!
They wil simply disconnect you and ask questions later !!! | |
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Time Warner Hunts Copper Thieves
