maw bell

[bky]

well i did it i was grading the road today and i was in my own little world whlie i was grading and next thing i know the nabor came pulling up and ask if i knew that i had hit his phone line ?
so i went and looked sure enopugh it was broke. well my qustion is should i have to pay the phone comPay for them to fix it seeing as it was about 2 inches in the ground where I hit it? In my opinion I shouldn?t have to since it was under a gravel drive and it wasn?t deep enough?
Well I splice it back together cause the phone co. wasn?t gonad get there till Tuesday to fix it. Can you believe that I tore it up Sunday and they can?t get there till Tuesday to fix it?

 

[RobS]

I've hit mine several times and they've fixed it for free each time. All the lines around these subdivisions are 2" or less underground. Usually it's tucked right under the fresh sod when they build a new house. Same with cable /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

There is a call before you dig number here that if you call they will come out in X number of days to mark all utilities. They give you a case number. If you then hit something like the phone line that was not marked properly, you are off the hook (pun intended) /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Egon]

I did the same thing about 10 years ago. Spliced it myself so I could phone in and then decided that as it was working why bother.

Egon

 

[bky]

ive hit mine and splice it and didnt call but this one in in the drive that serves 7 houses

 

[Richard]

1. Father in law/Brother in law did similar...phone company actualy got out right away to fix. AFter the fixing, these two were still at it on the dozer or tractor..(I wasn't there)..and just as phone dude was leaving, ripped it up again!! Phone dude wasn't even out of the driveway yet /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

2. VERY angry with this one..just last week, came home from being gone couple days..phone dead. Call phone company they'll be out on Tuesday to fix. Fine. Tuesday MORNING, driving down street that boarders land..notice one of those 4 inch square terminal boxes smashed. Yup, seems some yahoo in his wisdom, took his car or truck OVER the box and smashed it to smithereens. I picked up mess and our wires were on the ground/shorted. I picked them up, layed across branch to get out of the dew and TA DA..phone worked. I raced to office to tell the phone co, that the problem isn't "AT" my house, it's at this location.

I get home that night...phone works..but the smashed junction box down road untouched /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif I call phone company ask what's up?? "Everything checked out fine, ticket is CLOSED". ARGH....I tell them the REAL problem again...and they say they'll be out on Wednesday to fix...

Wednesday...box still smashed..I call phone company...Driver came out to house and all was ok.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"WRITE THIS DOWN....DO NOT COME TO HOUSE"...blah blah..got rather pointed with them...

Friday I get home and while driving down road..father and uncle in laws pass by..we stop & chat...bad news...Uncle in Laws dog has been killed. Seems the phone company came out to see what was wrong..came out to the house AGAIN..found nothing wrong..upon leaving..(in his defense, the dog DID love to "challange" vehicles) ran over the dog and killed it... Oh yeah..the junction box down the road lying there smashed to smithereens? UNTOUCHED.

(anyone know any disgruntled Post Office employees I may hire?) /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif (just kidding..and no offense to any current/former/future postal workers)

The dog? Bandit. Black lab..loyal as the dickens to Tom. Was a stick dog. No matter where going..he HAD to have a stick in his mouth. The stick could be size of a pencil, or could be literally a 10 foot branch..though as he got older, he carried fewer branches and preferred more traditional sized morsels... I told Tom I'd bury him...fired up Brutus, placed Bandit in the bucket..took him to the TOP of the hill, overlooking the 250 acres and panormaic view of the lake..found nice spot..dug nice deep room for him....and prior to finalizing the proceedure...I put a stick next to him.

Today..Monday? junction box still smashed.

I love my phone company. (Bellsouth) /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

 

[bgott]

We have Southwestern Bell. They hire the stupidest SOBs they can find. I went round and round with them over burying a line under the driveway of a trailer park I was in the process of building.They didn't want to string the line for the end trailer from the power poles. I was to the point of shouting "What part of I'm not finished with the driveway don't you understand?" in the face of the installer and she still strung it across the driveway, laying on the ground. They sent a crew out to bury it a couple of weeks after it was installed, it had been cut just about every day up to then. I finally got a supervisor out there and the excuse the installer had used was that the pole at the end of the street hadn't been installed. Gee, that pole had been there for a month and a half. My next go around with them is going to be a tree I need taken down that has grown up around a main line. I might just wait until the next big storm and then push the tree down with the tractor.

 

[jhburke]

When our cable company was AT&T, they strung their cable line so low that when the power company came in with their line truck they tore the line down and broke the pole off. The cable co came out to fix the line. No pole so they tied the line off in a tree across the lane. Now when we had a high wind the line would break. I called the company and asked whe it had become the high tech procedure to use trees as power poles. He sent someone out to check. They decided to bury the line. When they did my neighbor suddenly had his sewer backing up into the house. He finally had to rent a sewer camera to find the blockage. Yep they had drilled thru his sewer line. They disclaimed any responsibility. Lawsuit time.

 

[MDNick]

All this talk got me to thinking about my satellite dish cable and septic system. I will need to get my tank pumped this spring, and my guess is the cable goes directly over the top of the septic tank. Wonderful. But am glad the discussion came up. Splicing that RG-6 (???) in a burial installation is probably not a good idea.

Thanks guys.

 

[bky]

nick they make under ground splice kits for every kind of wire out there

 

[mikim]

Not a problem ... I use to do what I called a "boeing splice" on all the airplanes I ever worked on. - splice the center conductor (solder or crimp) - heat shrink over it - splice the shield over the top of that & heat shrink it ---then .... large piece of heat shrink - tie one end tight - fill from the other end with RTV that hardens - tie it off - then heat & shrink - Used this technique to splice fuel level wiring inside jet fuel tanks - never had one leak.
mfk

 

[bgott]

That isn't why that 747 blew up, is it?

 

[ewoss3]

nick go to a telecom supply store and ask for a gel splice kit <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.graybar.com/>http://www.graybar.com/</A> I have an old one at home and I will try to post a part numer and manufacturer later this morning. basically you cut the cable crimp on new connectors and a barrel fitting. Once you have tightened the fitting you place the repair into a plastic case that is filled with a very sticky gel. It works great for direct burial

 

[pennwalk]

You guys got to cut the phone companies some slack. They are in the process of transitioning to the perfect business. When the transition is complete all they will do is collect money. All the old stuff that phone companies used to do are a terrible drag on a progressive modern company. Employees are a pain. They are always sick or wanting to go on vacation. Always wanting raises or company paid health coverage. When the transition is complete the customers will service themselves or do with out. It doesn't matter which as long as they pay their bill on time.

Chris
ps I would have put in some emoticons but I don't know weather to laugh/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif or cry./w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

 

[ewoss3]

okay I finally found one out in the shop.

made by AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg PA 17105
technical assistance # 1-800-722-1111
part name amp*certi-seal*coxial coupling closure
part number 569224-1

it's for RG-6 and RG-59 F splices

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Actually, Ogden Telephone division of Citizens Communications has already acheived this goal. They have even convinced the majority of their customers they are now part of the surrounding telephone company.
In 96 days of a telephone wire laying on the ground from a broken pole the electric company replaced with a new pole, and the cable company rehung their wire on, Ogden/Citizens did actually ride up the lane to look at the new pole.
When I got completely tired of moving the G*^%#$^*( wire to mow, I rehung it and sent them a bill for doing so. The idiot in charge of the local office had a lawyer send me a strongly worded letter advising I was NOT qualified to hang their wire, and they would sue me for damage to their complex system if they could find any damage. I guess they forgot I worked for the company 40 years back.
The small claims court case ought to be fun.

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>We have Southwestern Bell. They hire the stupidest SOBs they can find.</font color=blue>

I don't believe it, Brad. I think Valor Telecom has them beat./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif I have two phone lines; the one I use for Internet access and fax, and the one my wife uses to talk (OK, so I use it occasionally, too/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif). We found the "talking" phone line dead Friday afternoon. I reported it at 2:15 p.m., called back at 8:15 p.m. and was told they had identified the problem, but quit work at 7 p.m., and would fix it "over the weekend". I called at 1:15 p.m. today and was told they were working on it and "service should be restored anytime now." I called at 6:30 p.m. and was told that someone did some digging without calling and cut a cable and the service man had repaired it, closed the ticket, and showed it was fixed. No one has been here, we haven't heard from them, and the phone is still dead. When I insisted on speaking with a supervisor, she said she'd have to make another repair ticket and someone will be out tomorrow. I wouldn't want to bet on it, though./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[TonyC]

<font color=blue>When I insisted on speaking with a supervisor, she said she'd have to make another repair ticket...</font color=blue>

As an AT&T employee allow me to offer advice. Next time keep insisting. They will avoid having a supervisor involved if they can but if you don't give up, they'll give in. From my experience talking to a supervisor can make a difference too. I've had suprisingly good luck doing that.

 

[Bird]

I wasn't very clear, TonyC. I did keep insisting and the supervisor is the one who said she'd have to make another repair ticket. She also gave me a phone number that she said was a direct line to her, so we'll see whether they do anything tomorrow. I've also filed a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission. And our phone isn't the only one in the neighborhood that's out. At least two neighbors have no phone (and I mean they literally have no phone). At least my wife has a cell phone (they don't) and I still have one line working (why one works and the other doesn't, I don't know).

 

[TonyC]

I stand corrected. I'm glad you were, in fact, persistant. It's extra good that you reported them to the PUC. A lot of these local carriers are extremely low on facilities...when a wire pair fails they may not have one readily available to replace it with. I deal only with large data circuits but I still have to work with the local bells too. They are the single biggest headache I have. They wrote the book on giving people the run around! Good luck tomorrow...lets hope they don't dissapoint.