

Bizarre and Annoying Causes of Fiber Cuts - phinze
http://blog.level3.com/2011/08/04/the-10-most-bizarre-and-annoying-causes-of-fiber-cuts/

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hernan7
For lots more on fiber optics and the colorful characters that lay them down
under the sea, this old Wired article is a must-read:

<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html>

("Mother Earth Motherboard" by Neal Stephenson, 1994)

"Everything that has occurred in Silicon Valley in the last couple of decades
also occurred in the 1850s. [...] The only things that have changed since then
are that the stakes have gotten smaller, the process more bureaucratized, and
the personalities less interesting."

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sehugg
There's a joke that goes: If you need a backhoe, just bury a little fiber
cable. One will be along presently to dig it up.

~~~
prodigal_erik
The version I've heard is that you should bring some when travelling, so that
if you should be stranded on a deserted island, the backhoe driver will rescue
you.

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jabowah
The former mayor of my city (he had been out of office for a few months when
this happened) cut through the only fiber line coming into the area with a
back hoe while burying a dead dog. Knocked out long distance, cell phones, and
the internet for about 12 hours.

~~~
jws
My plumber nailed the fiber that connected the fire station next door to its
dispatching and emergency response network. He knew it was in that strip, but
it was in contact with the bottom of the sewer pipe he was cutting and he
didn't see it.

On the plus side, in the ensuing maelstrom of very excited people, they
discovered the segment was a lesser grade than they thought they had
contracted.

------
parfe
[http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/nation/na-black-
wire...](http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/nation/na-black-wire7)

Unfortunately for excavators not all buried lines are on the map.

~~~
CapitalistCartr
We dug through an 1 -1/4" gas main because their map had it 5' off from where
it was. Luckily, the ditchwitch operator had the presence of mind to realize
what the sand puffs were, turn off the machine, then run. Mapping accuracy
matters.

~~~
spydum
This happens a lot in Florida. The problem is, water level near the costal
cities is so close to the surface, buried lines often move anywhere from 1-3
feet from the original documented location. Verizon was rolling out Fiber to
the Premises in Tampa, and finally after so many water/sewer main breaks, the
state/county/municipality blocked them from using equipment to dig.. they had
to start digging by shovel. That really put a damper on the FiOS deployment.
Related article:
[http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007...](http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/NEWS/702080418)

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CapitalistCartr
He's out of luck with the squirrels. They love to chew cables of all sorts,
and death doesn't seem to bother them.

~~~
pavel_lishin
An old landlord of mine bought a car with the intention of fixing it up. It
sat quietly in the front yard over winter, until it got warm enough to work on
it.

When he opened the hood, he discovered a happy family of squirrels, and not an
inch of ungnawed wire left anywhere in the engine compartment.

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ck2
_We can attribute about 7% of our annual outages to people using our fiber
cable for gun practice._

Sigh. Prison terms please. Even just a month will do.

~~~
bryanlarsen
I think most of the gun accidents are people trying to shoot birds off the
line rather than trying to shoot the line itself: stupidity and carelessness
rather than malice. Makes it harder to convict them.

~~~
ck2
Shooting a gun arbitrarily in the air, even at an angle is criminal because
what goes up, must come down somewhere and there's no way you can be certain
there won't be people there.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebratory_gunfire#Falling-
bul...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebratory_gunfire#Falling-
bullet_injuries)

~~~
bryanlarsen
Shooting at a bird or a wire isn't shooting arbitrarily. If it was illegal
they wouldn't sell licenses for bird hunting. You do have a duty to be aware
of what's in your shot's potential flight path, so one could be charged with
that.

