AT&T tits up again

what a shock. land line and comp both from them. nothing much out in this semi rural area. frequently down and expensive beyond reason.
likely switch to elect co comp and hope they add phone. only good thing i can say is about the techs they send out when the idiot,indian phone CS can't do anything (including speak understandable english). the techs have all been knowledgeable and helpful good guys.
have been told AT&T is trying to get rid of all land lines. explains the outdated trash they use here. have no cell. never have,never will. can't imagine how much they charge for that.
 
what a shock. land line and comp both from them. nothing much out in this semi rural area. frequently down and expensive beyond reason.
likely switch to elect co comp and hope they add phone. only good thing i can say is about the techs they send out when the idiot,indian phone CS can't do anything (including speak understandable english). the techs have all been knowledgeable and helpful good guys.
have been told AT&T is trying to get rid of all land lines. explains the outdated trash they use here. have no cell. never have,never will. can't imagine how much they charge for that.
Telcos, including ATT, are working on replacing their legacy copper networks with fiber optics, while salvaging billions of dollars worth of copper cabling. I would imagine that's someplace on their list of reasons for getting rid of the copper landlines.
 
Telcos, including ATT, are working on replacing their legacy copper networks with fiber optics, while salvaging billions of dollars worth of copper cabling. I would imagine that's someplace on their list of reasons for getting rid of the copper landlines.
Copper is definitely worth more than fiberoptic. I have had to deal with fiberoptic lighting for some time and it just trashes quickly. The ends weather and you have to redress with a hot knife but that only takes care of the end, not the starring and such along the line.
 
Someone might be just testing ability, before its needed prior to our Oct 7th style event?

 
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Copper is definitely worth more than fiberoptic. I have had to deal with fiberoptic lighting for some time and it just trashes quickly. The ends weather and you have to redress with a hot knife but that only takes care of the end, not the starring and such along the line.

Fiber network cable is a bit different. Most importantly it's not exposed to the weather.

It's also glass, not plastic. It doesn't weather anything like plastic. The automated polishing tools out there now are pretty damn cool. They leave a perfect finish, and then you put ends on.
 
Fiber network cable is a bit different. Most importantly it's not exposed to the weather.

It's also glass, not plastic. It doesn't weather anything like plastic. The automated polishing tools out there now are pretty damn cool. They leave a perfect finish, and then you put ends on.
You are undoubtedly right and we may be talking different grades. I have dealt only with fiberoptic pool lighting. After a while, redressing the ends doesn't help much.

And it is too expensive to buy a whole role of that fiberoptic for the one or two pools still around that have it. We just up sell them to a new transformer and small LED lights made to retro-fit in the 1.5" plaster mounted wall fitting (looks like a pool return.) Something like a Microbrite or PAL Treo.

Illuminator assemblies are just not worth servicing anymore.
 
Ah, that explains it. I've never used plastic fiberoptic lighting and was pretty confused, I'd never had any of those issues with glass fiber in computer networking. Typically the biggest problems we have are 1) someone cutting it while digging; 2) someone dropping an anchor on it; 3) dust on the ends.

The great thing, or one of them, about fiber is that bandwidth can be increased on existing (cable) infrastructure by upgrading the optics, instead of simply having to pull additional runs. This is great in the datacenter where we can upgrade circuits from, say, 10Gb/s to 100Gb/s with an optic change.
 
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Ah, that explains it. I've never used plastic fiberoptic lighting and was pretty confused, I'd never had any of those issues with glass fiber in computer networking. Typically the biggest problems we have are 1) someone cutting it while digging; 2) someone dropping an anchor on it; 3) dust on the ends.

The great thing, or one of them, about fiber is that bandwidth can be increased on existing (cable) infrastructure by upgrading the optics, instead of simply having to pull additional runs. This is great in the datacenter where we can upgrade circuits from, say, 10Gb/s to 100Gb/s with an optic change.
We have hit a few and we dig by hand, going from the electrical panel of a house to an equipment location. A decent sharpshooter shovel will effectively sever the FO cable and bring out an irate customer. We don't carry tools to fix that. Also, it was not our idea that communication companies should run the cable with no conduit right under the sod.
 
We have hit a few and we dig by hand, going from the electrical panel of a house to an equipment location. A decent sharpshooter shovel will effectively sever the FO cable and bring out an irate customer. We don't carry tools to fix that. Also, it was not our idea that communication companies should run the cable with no conduit right under the sod.
Newbies use a shovel, professionals use a 100 HP Vermeer trencher, so we can break the glass a quarter mile in both directions. I had paid Central Locating, notified Bell south (back then) the power, water & gas company's. They all came and marked their shit, and I was 75 foot away from all their flags & paint. Long short we had the most white trucks I have ever seen in one place there. The Bell south guy says you better have mega ins, I just laughed & said Steve Wonder could see where the machine & trench is vs all the markings. Sue me & see how it works out for you. The bond company just laughed at Bell
 
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Newbies use a shovel, professionals use a 100 HP Vermeer trencher, so we can break the glass a quarter mile in both directions. I had paid Central Locating, notified Bell south (back then) the power, water & gas company's. They all came and marked their shit, and I was 75 foot away from all their flags & paint. Long short we had the most white trucks I have ever seen in one place there. The Bell south guy says you better have mega ins, I just laughed & said Steve Wonder could see where the machine & trench is vs all the markings. Sue me & see how it works out for you. The bond company just laughed at Bell
You try to do the right thing. We would call utility locations. We did that on on job where we were only running power to an outdoor structure. Nowhere near the comm cables. In fact, where they reported the cut was where some freshly built concrete stepping pad forms were. It was likely cut by those guys.

They kept quoting my words in the request. Well, they could report when the damage was found and repaired but could report when the damage occured. They found it and fixed, not only were not there that day, we were not there that week and I had GPS truck reports to prove it.

However, one time, we hit the gas line between on the Atmos side of a house valve. So, Atmos fixed it and then tried to charge us for equipment they never actually used.

Then the Texas Railroad Commission oversees gas, for some reason. Gave us a $1250.00 fine, going easy on us because it was our incident of hitting without having locate in place. And the builder never called one.

Another time, we got a bill from ATT saying that we hit their line because we had a utility locate done. Not only were not there the day or the week of the damage, our work went to the other side of the house. In addition, the repair tech took a pic of where the line was cut. You could see the yellow gas line, plain as day. So, I told them to call the builder who was in charge of that gas plumber.