On Thu, 09 Feb 2006 14:06:05 -0500, TELECOM Digest Editor wrote:
> A fiber got cut by a clumsy contractor with a backhoe early Thursday
> in Parsons, KS which knocked all of rural s.e. Kansas as served by
> cableone.net off line. This cut included TELECOM Digest. Right now I
> am working off of our back up modem dial up line using TerraWorld.
> Cableone is aware of the problem and they estimate it will be six to
> eight hours in repair. The contractor just shrugged his shoulders and
> acted like he did not know what he had done. "He'll shrug his
> shoulders alright when he gets the repair bill, noted a technician
> from Cableone.net in Phoenix, AZ where the cableone technical center
> is located.
There is a method to how these things are covered up. Whoever is
causing the digging has the actual work done by a contractor. Unless
the contractor can be proved to be directly supervised, this gets the
instigator off the hook. Then they call in "Miss Utility", another
party. If they didn't clearly mark the line, they may be the party at
fault, but repairs will destroy the markings.
I was burned out of a townhouse in Northern Virginia a number of years
ago by a cable company crew drilling into the underground power lines.
Everybody pointed fingers at everybody else. My insurance sued, but it
took years to come up for trial, at which point the cable company
settled, and I never got my deductible back.
Verizon lost maybe 50 yards of buried cable, and the power company at
least as much. They both seemed to take the attitude that they caused
about as much damage as they suffered, so it was a wash. As long as it
is only the consumers who really suffer, I doubt any of them much
care.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That damnable mess here went on for
several hours. We officially got back on line at 9:55 PM, or about
12 hours after it started. They had hoped to have the repairs finished
before it got dark outside (which would have been about 7 PM this
time of year.) It turned out they had to take bright lights and set
them up there in that field where the contractor had been
working. What a mess it was! PAT]
John McHarry (jmcharry@comcast.net)