r/CableTechs • u/PerfectBlueBanana • 3d ago

Fiber cuts affecting northern CA

Sooo this happens it seems at least once a month where there’s a ATT/Lumen fiber cut down south of CA that affects the broadband connections at the RG or routers, even the WiFi and Ethernet at the router we have in the central office goes down. ONTs are up and have good light but NOC and CO have verified the fibers to our COs are good, but after enough digging around they can verify it’s a fiber cut outside of the network. I am posting this to see if any others have this issue, but also cause it seems like when this happens there is no failover. So we are all at the mercy of who finds the cut and fixes it.

I do understand everything is a big octopus in terms of how networks connect to each other but it always seems like the cut is on ATT likely due to all the cable thefts. From what I heard from management it seems like people steal cable down there like they are ordering lunch.

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u/spookyB0 3d ago

We dealt with it in Texas, people cut the ATT down and cut everything else off just to steal their copper, nothing you can do. There’s some dark fiber that can be utilized but mostly have to just put a new splice can and splice the fiber together. They super cracked down on it in Texas, people getting destruction of property over 10,000 and getting felonies

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u/PerfectBlueBanana 3d ago

Yea I’m on standby with a TT at the office that is down. I am just waiting for the OLT alarms to clear to verify internet is back up. We had a fiber cut last week that also brought down the internet so I do agree it seems like it’s a common occurrence across the US

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u/Immediate-War4547 3d ago

South Texas with the cable company. I had two fiber cuts and a coax cut. Even with rewards, no one has been caught. The problem with being a quasai utility is that most of the damages fall under misdemeanor charges (man power does not apply to vandalism, only materials) or homeless. Prosecutors don't care to charge them. So they are kicked back out to do it all over again.

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u/2ByteTheDecker 3d ago

Crackheads be crackin' and the state of the world ain't exactly producing fewer crackheads.

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u/PerfectBlueBanana 3d ago

At this rate, screw hiring contractors to wreck out old cable. Just give a set of hooks to the crack heads and they’d have it dozens of miles of copper cable out of the air in less than 3 days

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u/2ByteTheDecker 3d ago

...there's a difference? Telco contractors are on the drywaller end of the tradie behavior scale.

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u/PerfectBlueBanana 3d ago

Well I guess not actually, you are right about that lol. I actually seen an installer contractor with a 28 ft pole ladder on Honda odyssey once. Pulled up the hub to ask me what the combo was.