George wrote:

HeyBub wrote:
SteveB wrote:
My excellent track hoe operator cut my phone cable. He called a
buddy who works for the phone company, and he says the phone company
charges $300 to come fix it. It is a copper shielded 4 line wire. It has
some goo on the inside. It is a buried line not in a conduit.

Does the price seem high? I know I could splice the wires, but a ten
foot section was just destroyed, and I don't have any of that
specialized wire. And then there's the issue of weather and water.

What would you do?

This is a $10 out-of-pocket fix. You don't need "special" wire - almost any
insulated wire will do. By that I mean everything from doorbell wire to 10-3
house wiring.

Thats total nonsense and just a band-aid. You can effect a "see it
works" repair that way and nothing more. Part of a repair is that you
restore original performance and longevity.


The BEST way to fix your problem is to replace the entire run - from the
Telco's terminal to your demarc.

The second best way to repair it is to move the splices above ground in a
box of some sort.

On the other hand, I'll bet the telephone company will fix it free. They are
usually responsible for all wiring all the way up to your demarc.

It could be for free but the OP is basing everything on "someone said"
instead of quoting actual cost. They would certainly minimize the cost
if the trench was open and ready for the phone guy to work.

They don't trench those lines, they just pull them in with a vibratory
cable plow. They certainly won't even look at repairing the existing
cable unless it's an extreme length, they'll just plow in a new cable
and hook it up. It's an hour and a half job or so for the contractor
they use for the work and much of that time is unloading and loading the
cable plow from the trailer.