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Pete C.

wrote:

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:00:59 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Nov 19, 1:33 pm, "Pete C." wrote:
wrote:

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

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.

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
"

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.

5 pair flooded cable seems to be what they stock for underground
service. That's what they used on my service which is a single line /
DSL.