having been at the receiving end of two outages due to cut cables ON THE SAME CONSTRUCTION SITE down the road, and getting first hand experience with the laissez-faire attitude of the cable companies when it comes to documenting the location of their lines, I'm totally not surprised by such things. I built a house on a plot of land that had two telco lines already in place, connecting the house behind me to the main line running parallel to the street. Part of the building permit process was an inquiry to the archives of the telcos, where I obtained plans of where the lines were supposedly laid. The plans had nothing to do with reality, the lines ran about 15 feet from where they were on the plans, and a lot shallower than regulation. When the Vodafone team came for the cutting and splicing, not only did they not show on the first two appointments, but it was two Eastern Europeans, sub-contracted to a sub-contractor, who were surprised when we questioned them about documenting the location of the new line and finally, grudgingly scribbled something on a piece of cardboard. This was three years ago, in Germany.
in new england, we have DIG SAFE, and you should call them before doing any excavations. they coordinate with the utilities, who will come out and mark where their lines are buried. it is a free service.
um... Oops, sorry
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that the Transatlantic Cable ran underground!
ReplyDeletehaving been at the receiving end of two outages due to cut cables ON THE SAME CONSTRUCTION SITE down the road, and getting first hand experience with the laissez-faire attitude of the cable companies when it comes to documenting the location of their lines, I'm totally not surprised by such things.
ReplyDeleteI built a house on a plot of land that had two telco lines already in place, connecting the house behind me to the main line running parallel to the street. Part of the building permit process was an inquiry to the archives of the telcos, where I obtained plans of where the lines were supposedly laid.
The plans had nothing to do with reality, the lines ran about 15 feet from where they were on the plans, and a lot shallower than regulation. When the Vodafone team came for the cutting and splicing, not only did they not show on the first two appointments, but it was two Eastern Europeans, sub-contracted to a sub-contractor, who were surprised when we questioned them about documenting the location of the new line and finally, grudgingly scribbled something on a piece of cardboard.
This was three years ago, in Germany.
in new england, we have DIG SAFE, and you should call them before doing any excavations. they coordinate with the utilities, who will come out and mark where their lines are buried. it is a free service.
ReplyDeleteI-)
As we in the computer security business say, "An idiot with a backhoe is a bigger danger to the internet than any hacker."
ReplyDelete