Scenario:
1) a 10 strand phone line (underground) was cut during a landscaping project. About 4 feet from entry of the cable as it goes into the house (into the basement).2) The 'Digg' or 'OOps' number was not called first, it was obvious the cable would have been in that vicinity.
3) Will the phone company fix this for free? (as someone has told me)Thanks
Phil
In most cases, the phone company should repair it. They typically are responsible for the line up to the outside box where it enters the home. They may in turn bill the landscaper who cut it, particularly since a markout service was not called.
Dunno, but curious to hear the answers. The same thing happened to mine. I spliced a patch in there. Now the phone company has to come wire one end to the new addition, then run about twenty feet to the original location. Hope it's not too bad.
STeve
I was thinking that the Miss Utility marking thing doesn't go to that level of detail with respect to where on your lawn not to dig unless there is some sort of main running through your lawn.
The 'landscaper' was the homeowner in this case.
I am sure the telco will fix it, but at what cost?
I have the two strands connected so there is service restored to the house.
phil
I'm trying to access the telco's computers and review their repair rates.....hmm....can't seem to do it. Unless you get unbelievably lucky and one of their repair people reads this newsgroup, I'm afraid you'll have to make a phonecall.
My former neighbor, a farmer had a waterline leaking underground near his barn. He took a front end loader and started digging. Not only did he chop his own phone line to the house, but two other main lines that feed the whole area. About a dozen farms lost phone service. He chopped one of those lines in 3 or 4 different places, which made it look as if it was placed in the same trench as the water line. The phone company fixed it, then sent him a bill for close to $2000. He was pissed, but he had no choice because he should have had them mark the path (which is free).
The UFPO in NY only works in the right-of-way and the lines only have to be within (something like) 4' of the actual line.
I'd put 20:1 odds against the phone company fixing the lines for free. Your viable options are to either repair the line properly yourself (since it's just your service), or have the phone company repair it for what I would expect to be a couple hundred dollars. Be glad you didn't hit a power line and electrocute yourself. The call before you dig numbers are easy, free and can save you a lot of headaches.
What I would do, although I did 31 years in the Telco business, is to go to Lowes or Menards, etc. and get some splice beanies. These beanies have a place to push the 2 ends of the broken wire, same color. You then squeeze the beanie and it cuts the insulation and connects the 2 together. Some even have some silicon goo to make it more waterproof. They also have cylinders where you shove the spliced wires and apply a sealant.
That was my experience too. They flagged the right of way but did not locate my phone line, which we hit ... of course. Fortunately I had a roll of flooded phone cable I found in a dumpster so I just had my "labor" ditch it in and I connected it up to there green post on the ROW. Their line was about 2" deep. I put it back about 18" down and "sleeved" it under the new driveway in a 2" PVC.
Happened in my neighbor' s yard. The phone company guys must have spend 20 minutes taking photos before touching anything. I assume to charge the guilty party. I could see the spray painted line painted by "Miss Utility" was about a foot from where the dig was so I imagine someone will be checking if the phone line was buried according to plans or "Miss Utility" had sprayed off by a foot.
That sounds about like what I was thinking. Even though I hadn't called to find out where the lines were first, it was clearly evident where the line was as I could see where it exited the house into the ground right at the foundation. I just hadn't expected the line to still be buried about 4-5" at about 5 feet from the foundation. I cannot recall if we placed the line at that shallow depth after a prior nearby dig-up of the water line, or if the line was always that depth.
Even if I HAD called before digging I probably would have dug in the same place, it was only about 5" down that I was digging, to put some landscaping border edging in. I'm surprised it hadn't ever been cut before.
To further complicate things, a friend of mine says he called his buddy at the telco (who has a position that deals with these things) and he says they wouldn't charge to fix it.
Call me paranoid, but that sounds too good to be true, especially when telco's are losing income as people drop their land lines completely....and me not having called first. So I'm not calling them until I can get some assurance that there will not be any charges.
In the meantime, I am looking around for the proper way to fix it, which at this point seems to be by the 'push button' type splicers you mentioned (which i used to get the line repaired, temporarily) or by some heat shrink butt splicers, covered by layers of shrink wrap and surrounded by the proper 'goo' before reburial.
Thanks for all the input
phil "
For you, the OP, and everyone else -- don't forget to put down the safety tape before you fill the trench back in.
The telco has special connectors that contain some goo, probably silicone. If the guy said he will do it for free, maybe he could just furnish the connectors to your friend. On the other hand, the cable may be too short to splice. Depends on the connectors and the way it was cut. You may have to replace the shortest part, which sounds like the piece going into the house. If you do have telco come, at least dig those few feet so they can get done fast. (dig carefully so you do not chop it more). Is this just a single residence? I'm curious why you have a 10 wire cable? My house just has a 2 wire. One phone line only.
'm curious
geez i would do it a different way, run a entire new line, buried shallow to save digging work but run inside conduit, for future physical protection.
frankly i dont like spliced repairs and make do fixes..........
perhaps its just me,,,,,,,,,,,
The guy said the TELCO would do it for free, not the guy personally. Which would be great, if it was true. I'm just not really convinced its true and I don't want to tell them what address it is until I'm sure there won't be any cost to me. (for the reasons I mentioned above).
House built 1974. Underground black cable, goldish metallic shielding, ten strands of multi-cored wire inside, coated with a clearish gel- like substance. All original as far as I know. It is buried way back from the tel pole at the road, about 1 furlong (660 feet). The connections that restored the service were the solid blue and the blue/ white strands. I've left the rest unconnected for now, but protected from the elements.
phil
thats ten strands of multi-COLORED wires, not multi-cored wires.
If it's buried you probably have more than a single pair. In most cases they will run 2 or even 4 pair so if you decide you want a second or 3rd phone line, they have the capacity to put it in without trenching in a new line.
If the problem is on THEIR side of the user friendly box, then it's THEIR problem. Just call and say the phone is not working, and it's dead at the test port also.
s
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