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?

Steve

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.

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. But even
if they think it's your responsibility, look at the problem from the Telco's
point of view. It'll cost them, oh, $100 to fix your wiring. They'll recoup
that in five months - after that your monthly bill is pure profit.
Conversely, if you tell them you can't afford the repair fee and that you're
switching to all cell phone service, they get nothing.

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?


Did anybody call Miss Digg (or whatever it's called where you are) to
flag all the utility cables and pipes before the job was started?

My *guess* is that if that was not done, or even if it was done but the
equipment operator cut the cable anyway, the phone co. *must* be
notified (it's their cable) so *they* can fix it -- and they will bill
you (or the operator) for whatever their normal charge is.

Perce

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.

But even
if they think it's your responsibility, look at the problem from the Telco's
point of view. It'll cost them, oh, $100 to fix your wiring. They'll recoup
that in five months - after that your monthly bill is pure profit.
Conversely, if you tell them you can't afford the repair fee and that you're
switching to all cell phone service, they get nothing.

Percival P. Cassidy 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?


Did anybody call Miss Digg (or whatever it's called where you are) to
flag all the utility cables and pipes before the job was started?

My *guess* is that if that was not done, or even if it was done but the
equipment operator cut the cable anyway, the phone co. *must* be
notified (it's their cable) so *they* can fix it -- and they will bill
you (or the operator) for whatever their normal charge is.

Perce

Around here, you can be fined for not calling the utility locater
service. If the service marks the line, and you hit the line and
it's not where they said it was, you are not responsible. If you
don't call the service and dig up a line, you are screwed.

TDD

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?

Steve


What did the phone company actually say? I'll bet if you had the trench
open and ready to go the cost would be less.

You can buy proper splice kits and cable at a real supply house if you
were going to do it yourself.

Percival P. Cassidy 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?


Did anybody call Miss Digg (or whatever it's called where you are) to
flag all the utility cables and pipes before the job was started?

My *guess* is that if that was not done, or even if it was done but the
equipment operator cut the cable anyway, the phone co. *must* be
notified (it's their cable) so *they* can fix it -- and they will bill
you (or the operator) for whatever their normal charge is.

Perce

Forgot about that. If they called 811 (ours is called "PA One Call) and
the cable wasn't flagged there is no charge.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sun, 9 Aug 2009 22:52:39 -0600, 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?

pay it

$300 sounds ten times too low for the job.

Yep, no-brainer; OP action was proximate cause of the problem; least can
do is step up to the plate to see it is fixed properly. Why anybody
even asks what's the right thing to do is beyond me.

--

On Sun, 9 Aug 2009 22:52:39 -0600, 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?

pay it

$300 sounds ten times too low for the job.

"dpb" wrote in message
...
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sun, 9 Aug 2009 22:52:39 -0600, 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?

pay it

$300 sounds ten times too low for the job.

Yep, no-brainer; OP action was proximate cause of the problem; least can
do is step up to the plate to see it is fixed properly. Why anybody even
asks what's the right thing to do is beyond me.

Dumb ****. The thing has already been fixed by the phone company. I was
just asking about the cost of the repair and if that sounded reasonable.
BTW, it was done to phone company standards, using phone company patch kits,
and by a phone company employee who lives in my own little town, and with
whom I'm friends. He says they charge $900 to fix a 14 line cable, and it's
only splicing wires, then putting a big blob of sealer on the ends. The
standard two or four line is $300.

Sanctimonious dickhead. Yeah, you're an expert on the "right thing" to do,
and have done it in every situation in your life. Guess you don't know ****
about cable repair, but had to add SOME comment. Am I right?

He charged me $100.

On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:25:53 -0500, dpb wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sun, 9 Aug 2009 22:52:39 -0600, 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?

pay it

$300 sounds ten times too low for the job.

Yep, no-brainer; OP action was proximate cause of the problem; least can
do is step up to the plate to see it is fixed properly. Why anybody
even asks what's the right thing to do is beyond me.

frankly, the track hoe operator should pay it. The person should have
known better. That there may be stuff burried in the ground shouldn't be
news. Be glad it wasn't a power line, sewer main or a gas line.

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.

SteveB wrote:
....
Dumb ****. The thing has already been fixed by the phone company. I was
just asking about the cost of the repair and if that sounded reasonable.
BTW, it was done to phone company standards, using phone company patch kits,
and by a phone company employee who lives in my own little town, and with
whom I'm friends. He says they charge $900 to fix a 14 line cable, and it's
only splicing wires, then putting a big blob of sealer on the ends. The
standard two or four line is $300.

Sanctimonious dickhead. Yeah, you're an expert on the "right thing" to do,
and have done it in every situation in your life. Guess you don't know ****
about cable repair, but had to add SOME comment. Am I right?

No, not really...

If it were already repaired and you had a bill, what was the point in
even asking? Pay the bill and go on.

As AZ says, I'd really expect the operator to foot the bill unless (a)
you directed him where to dig and/or (b) did call the general
cable-locator number before digging...

I can't say as I've _always_ done "the right thing" of course but I
surely wouldn't have any problem in a situation such as this and as a
general practice I find the times I have failed have tended to have
decreased markedly as matured...

Anyway, nice to have such a _pleasant_ conversation...

--

SteveB wrote:
"dpb" wrote in message
...
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sun, 9 Aug 2009 22:52:39 -0600, 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?
pay it

$300 sounds ten times too low for the job.
Yep, no-brainer; OP action was proximate cause of the problem; least can
do is step up to the plate to see it is fixed properly. Why anybody even
asks what's the right thing to do is beyond me.

Dumb ****. The thing has already been fixed by the phone company.


Why use that kind of language and make that declaration when *YOU*
specifically omitted that information? Not everyone has a crystal ball.


In most of the English speaking world "what would you do?" means a
decision is not yet reached. Describing your action followed by "What
would you have done?" would be what most people would use to communicate
what you were apparently trying to communicate but didn't.

I was
just asking about the cost of the repair and if that sounded reasonable.
BTW, it was done to phone company standards, using phone company patch kits,
and by a phone company employee who lives in my own little town, and with
whom I'm friends. He says they charge $900 to fix a 14 line cable, and it's
only splicing wires, then putting a big blob of sealer on the ends. The
standard two or four line is $300.

Sanctimonious dickhead. Yeah, you're an expert on the "right thing" to do,
and have done it in every situation in your life. Guess you don't know ****
about cable repair, but had to add SOME comment. Am I right?

He charged me $100.

Pete C. wrote:
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.

Depends on locality. In my area they would be more likely to open up a
trench to expose the damaged cable and use a couple splice kits.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:25:53 -0500, dpb wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sun, 9 Aug 2009 22:52:39 -0600, 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?
pay it

$300 sounds ten times too low for the job.

Yep, no-brainer; OP action was proximate cause of the problem; least can
do is step up to the plate to see it is fixed properly. Why anybody
even asks what's the right thing to do is beyond me.

frankly, the track hoe operator should pay it. The person should have
known better. That there may be stuff burried in the ground shouldn't be
news. Be glad it wasn't a power line, sewer main or a gas line.

Well, after the fact, I have seen repair
kits at Menards and Lowe's for fixing
buried telephone cable. I know Lowe's
also sells the cable. So, in the future
it's not that hard to fix it yourself.

Pete C. wrote:

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.

In my area they use a wide wedge on the bottom of a shovel handle. They step
on the thing to open up a slot in the ground for the required path, then
poke a new wire in the furrow. After the wire is laid, they dance around
like Zulus and stomp the dirt back, covering the wire.

"George" wrote in message
...
SteveB wrote:
"dpb" wrote in message
...
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sun, 9 Aug 2009 22:52:39 -0600, 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?
pay it

$300 sounds ten times too low for the job.
Yep, no-brainer; OP action was proximate cause of the problem; least can
do is step up to the plate to see it is fixed properly. Why anybody
even asks what's the right thing to do is beyond me.

Dumb ****. The thing has already been fixed by the phone company.


Why use that kind of language and make that declaration when *YOU*
specifically omitted that information? Not everyone has a crystal ball.


In most of the English speaking world "what would you do?" means a
decision is not yet reached. Describing your action followed by "What
would you have done?" would be what most people would use to communicate
what you were apparently trying to communicate but didn't.

I was
just asking about the cost of the repair and if that sounded reasonable.
BTW, it was done to phone company standards, using phone company patch
kits, and by a phone company employee who lives in my own little town,
and with whom I'm friends. He says they charge $900 to fix a 14 line
cable, and it's only splicing wires, then putting a big blob of sealer on
the ends. The standard two or four line is $300.

Sanctimonious dickhead. Yeah, you're an expert on the "right thing" to
do, and have done it in every situation in your life. Guess you don't
know **** about cable repair, but had to add SOME comment. Am I right?

He charged me $100.

Timeline. Broke cable. Asked what to do. Heard that $300 was standard
price. Needed it fixed. Had it fixed. Listened to answers (?) here.

On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:25:04 -0400, Art Todesco wrote:

Well, after the fact, I have seen repair
kits at Menards and Lowe's for fixing
buried telephone cable. I know Lowe's
also sells the cable. So, in the future
it's not that hard to fix it yourself.

Irrelevent. It's not the homeowner's cable. When the homeowner is long gone, the phone
company will still be responsible for the cable and the cost of dispatching
a service call. They are going to fix it based on their experience
and in a way to insure no future calls.

In article , "HeyBub" wrote:
Pete C. wrote:

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.

In my area they use a wide wedge on the bottom of a shovel handle. They step
on the thing to open up a slot in the ground for the required path, then
poke a new wire in the furrow. After the wire is laid, they dance around
like Zulus and stomp the dirt back, covering the wire.

Verizon?

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "HeyBub"
wrote:
Pete C. wrote:

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.

In my area they use a wide wedge on the bottom of a shovel handle.
They step on the thing to open up a slot in the ground for the
required path, then poke a new wire in the furrow. After the wire
is laid, they dance around like Zulus and stomp the dirt back,
covering the wire.

Verizon?

At the time I saw them do it, they were Soutwestern Bell which Borged
everything that wasn't strapped down (Pacific Bell, Southern Bell, Milton's
Hot Dogs) . Then they bought the remnants of AT&T and changed their name
(possibly to avoid creditors or mobs).

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?

Steve


Around these parts, if you haven't been a PITA with 'accidents' before,
they will generally give you a freebie on the first one, along with a
lecture about calling the locator service before you dig. If your buddy
with the backhoe also has a ditch witch, and can have a slit trench
waiting for them to replace the whole drop all the way from street
pedestal to demarc, that could help your case. Ma Bell prefers not to
have underground splices. (At least the older field techs say that.)

Failing that, I'd pay the $300, and call it a lesson for your equipment
operator. Maybe he'll split it with you.

--
aem sends...

On Aug 10, 8:16*pm, aemeijers 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?

Steve

Around these parts, if you haven't been a PITA with 'accidents' before,
they will generally give you a freebie on the first one, along with a
lecture about calling the locator service before you dig. If your buddy
with the backhoe also has a ditch witch, and can have a slit trench
waiting for them to replace the whole drop all the way from street
pedestal to demarc, that could help your case. Ma Bell prefers not to
have underground splices. (At least the older field techs say that.)

Failing that, I'd pay the $300, and call it a lesson for your equipment
operator. Maybe he'll split it with you.

--
aem sends...

Ready for an amusing story; re a major/important buried fibre optics
cable????
Not telephone service to a single dwelling.

BTW. If it was already fixed; why the dumb troll did he ask "What
would you do"?

Well here goes anyway.

A telephone utility company had a fibre cable between a major downtown
location and their major radio site on hill outside town. The telco
had constructed a road up to the radio site from the main highway but
various unofficial vehicles were using the road and the telco was
concerned about vandalism/damage/tampering at the radio site.

So they hired contractor to construct a gate that could be locked etc.
across the entrance from the highway.

First thing contractor did was to dig down and cut the fibre optic
cable; causing a major disruption of Long Distance service.

Oops! "Call before you dig".

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in message
...
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?


Did anybody call Miss Digg (or whatever it's called where you are) to flag
all the utility cables and pipes before the job was started?

My *guess* is that if that was not done, or even if it was done but the
equipment operator cut the cable anyway, the phone co. *must* be notified
(it's their cable) so *they* can fix it -- and they will bill you (or the
operator) for whatever their normal charge is.

Perce

Around here it is called "Dig Safe" and it is MANDATORY to call them and
have them mark everything...It is a free service and fines and repair cost
apply if you don't comply...It sounds like he didn't do that....Probably no
permit either and paying the machine operator cash...Am I right ??/

Good thing it only cost you a 100 bucks...It COULD have been much , MUCH
worse......

benick wrote:

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in message
...
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?


Did anybody call Miss Digg (or whatever it's called where you are) to
flag all the utility cables and pipes before the job was started?

My *guess* is that if that was not done, or even if it was done but
the equipment operator cut the cable anyway, the phone co. *must* be
notified (it's their cable) so *they* can fix it -- and they will bill
you (or the operator) for whatever their normal charge is.

Perce

Around here it is called "Dig Safe" and it is MANDATORY to call them and
have them mark everything...It is a free service and fines and repair
cost apply if you don't comply...It sounds like he didn't do
that....Probably no permit either and paying the machine operator
cash...Am I right ??/

Good thing it only cost you a 100 bucks...It COULD have been much , MUCH
worse......
Hi,
Same here in Alberta. One Call is the name. They come out and mark gas,
power, phone, cable with different colors.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:25:04 -0400, Art Todesco wrote:

Well, after the fact, I have seen repair
kits at Menards and Lowe's for fixing
buried telephone cable. I know Lowe's
also sells the cable. So, in the future
it's not that hard to fix it yourself.

Irrelevent. It's not the homeowner's cable. When the homeowner is long gone, the phone
company will still be responsible for the cable and the cost of dispatching
a service call. They are going to fix it based on their experience
and in a way to insure no future calls.
Irrelevant except that, even though the
telco might
own the cable, the homeowner could fix
it and make
it work correctly and save much of the
$300. And
done right, ensure no future calls.