Posted: 8/30/2014 10:42:10 AM EDT
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Worked late last night so didn't notice. This morning, looking out the back door of my house I see a cable down. Weird, didn't really have bad wind or storms last night... Go out in the back yard, talk to neighbors...it runs something like an 1/8 of a mile through our neighborhood. Three white plain trucks were seen yesterday but no one really noticed what they were doing. It appears to be some form of biaxle cable, but my concern (other than the PITA) is whether it carries a current or not. Only markings are remaining amount of cable on spool (ie 460ft, 450ft, 430ft) and manufacture date (4/17/14). So, other than DHS deciding to main line my house instead of monitoring it from afar... What type of cable is this? Being yesterday was a holiday weekend start, I'm sure these guys couldn't be troubled by suspending it a little higher than, say, draped across our fences, sheds, gardens and yards...I'd really like to thank them for that.  |
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It doesn't appear to be any type of electrical service drop I've ever seen. It isn't triplex or concentric (based upon my limited experience). I don't know why you would insulate the neutral. Based upon what I assume I can tell about size, it seems too small to be primary cable. I've never seen any secondary cable that looks like that either. It appears to me to be bundled coax. But: (1) I am not an expert, (2) I'd assume it is high voltage until someone can tell you with confidence or you can safely test it. It doesn't appear to be fiber, but depending on where you are at, I guess it could be google fiber or a cable company upgrading lines in response to google. ETA: can you take a picture of the pole or pedestal from which it originates? If we can see how it attaches to a pole or see what type of pedestal is being used, that could be a big hint. |
| I am more apt to say it is some form of cable company cable. I have seen where the cable company sends the signal down on two cables. I think I heard they did that to make it harder for someone to steal their signal. Or it is for bi direction like if you have internet via your cable company. In cases where their is major outage from storms. And there is not enough manpower from the local cable company or electric company. They will contract with independent contractor to help restore service. |
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Don't know origin...wasn't there yesterday, this morning it is. Can't tell were it begins/terminates...lots of houses and it appears to run 10 houses each way. Definitely two separate cables insulated but joined together. Total width is about 1/4, no more than 1/2". Thickness is about 1/8th". ETA: You can tell its new cable. No signs of weathering. |
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That's what they call a figure 8 drop cable. It could be phone, fiber or coax. the figure 8 cables have one side of the figure 8 that is a steel cable to support the weight of the cable should it get ice or a tree branch on it. The other side of the cable is the actual part that carries the signal (what ever that signal may be.
Here is a link a figure 8 fiber drop cable so you can see what it looks like inside... if you want to know for sure who put it there, cut it and see who shows up to fix it. 
ETA: or possibly a Siamese cable... A Siamese cable has two different types of cable joined together or a double of one type (ie. two coax cable joined, phone cable and fiber cable joined,,, ect.) Before I switched to using IP cameras, I used to use a similar looking cable for cameras. it had a coax for video and a power cable joined together like that. I've seen AT&T do that many times when hooking up new service for someone. AT&T doesn't bury the cable, they contract that out and will lay the cable on the ground, then someone else will come along and bury it |
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Quoted: That's what they call a figure 8 drop cable. It could be phone, fiber or coax. the figure 8 cables have one side of the figure 8 that is a steel cable to support the weight of the cable should it get ice or a tree branch on it. The other side of the cable is the actual part that carries the signal (what ever that signal may be. Here is a link a figure 8 fiber drop cable so you can see what it looks like inside... if you want to know for sure who put it there, cut it and see who shows up to fix it. ETA: or possibly a Siamese cable... A Siamese cable has two different types of cable joined together or a double of one type (ie. two coax cable joined, phone cable and fiber cable joined,,, ect.) Before I switched to using IP cameras, I used to use a similar looking cable for cameras. it had a coax for video and a power cable joined together like that. I've seen AT&T do that many times when hooking up new service for someone. AT&T doesn't bury the cable, they contract that out and will lay the cable on the ground, then someone else will come along and bury it AT&T is what we are "hearing" amoungst the neighbors. Here's the thing: to bury it they will have to remove 18 fences by my count, maybe more. And none of us have been contacted about it.
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| Looking at the picture, You can see both halves are the same size. I am taking an educated guess that it is two RG-59U coax cables. Although running at least 10 houses is longer than I have ever seen the cable company run a drop. And I would not think that the cable company would use RG-59U as a interconnection between two splitters. So, I have to question my guess as to what it is being used for. Maybe big brother has installed a few cameras in your neighborhood.. Anyone you know that big brother might be interested in? Maybe a jihadist. |
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Quoted: Looking at the picture, You can see both halves are the same size. I am taking an educated guess that it is two RG-59U coax cables. Although running at least 10 houses is longer than I have ever seen the cable company run a drop. And I would not think that the cable company would use RG-59U as a interconnection between two splitters. So, I have to question my guess as to what it is being used for. Maybe big brother has installed a few cameras in your neighborhood.. Anyone you know that big brother might be interested in? Maybe a jihadist. Unless it was me they were interested in, I'd know. I shit you not when I say I live on Cop Street, and while I'm no "Commish" I'd know; this is pretty overt not to notice. You have over 30 families affected asking WTF? ETA: Earlier commentary regarding 3rd party contracting sounds right. While cutting it sounds...tempting, I'm leaving it alone. It might very well represent my lifeline to ARFCOM. That cannot happen. Where else could I find people who truly love me for my various pants pockets and MRAP's? I kid, I kid... |
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I hate the Local Cable provider, they had a drop running "catty corner" across my back yard.
The easement ran along my boundaries ONLY! I called them up and had a polite conversation with them... "You have a cable drop running across my yard where you don't have an easement." "Do we need to come out to tighten the cable? Is it hanging too low?" "NO! It's where you don't have an easement and I want it where it isn't running "catty corner" across my back yard" "Well sir, I don't see a problem!" "There is if I cut it with my tree trimmer!!!" "You can't do that!" "Yes I can, you DO NOT have an easement therefore it's illegal" "Very well, we will be there in a week to move it." I wait TWO weeks and call them back... "You haven't moved the cable drop in my back yard that you stated would be moved a week ago!" "We will be out next Friday." "My neighbor is going to be rather PISSED by then!" Why is that?" "Because in 60 minutes I'm cutting it with my tree trimmer!" They were there in 45 minutes. |
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Quoted: I hate the Local Cable provider, they had a drop running "catty corner" across my back yard. The easement ran along my boundaries ONLY! [snip] I wait TWO weeks and call them back... "You haven't moved the cable drop in my back yard that you stated would be moved a week ago!" "We will be out next Friday." "My neighbor is going to be rather PISSED by then!" Why is that?" "Because in 60 minutes I'm cutting it with my tree trimmer!" They were there in 45 minutes. Just to be sure, we contacted the couple of neighbors who might have needed a line this size. Both said it wasn't theirs. So I called SWB back and discussed it further. They still denied it was their line. I told them I understood, but just so there wouldn't be any surprises, I told them we had an excavator scheduled to remove the line and make the repairs to our sewer the next day. Within an hour we had a SWB crew on site. They paid for the sewer repair, the cost to replace a bunch of carpet and some misc bills we'd incurred. |
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Quoted:
I had a similar experience. Our law office kept flooding from a back-flowing toilet every time we had a hard rain. After the second or third incident, we had a plumber scope the line. About 75-100 feet outside our foundation, we found a ~1.25" cable marked "Property of SWBT" that had been bored into (and out of) our sewer line twice. I called SWB and asked them to kindly remove their line from our sewer and to repair our pipe. They denied it was theirs. Keep in mind, we have pictures from the scope. Just to be sure, we contacted the couple of neighbors who might have needed a line this size. Both said it wasn't theirs. So I called SWB back and discussed it further. They still denied it was their line. I told them I understood, but just so there wouldn't be any surprises, I told them we had an excavator scheduled to remove the line and make the repairs to our sewer the next day. Within an hour we had a SWB crew on site. They paid for the sewer repair, the cost to replace a bunch of carpet and some misc bills we'd incurred. Quoted:
Quoted:
I hate the Local Cable provider, they had a drop running "catty corner" across my back yard. The easement ran along my boundaries ONLY! [snip] I wait TWO weeks and call them back... "You haven't moved the cable drop in my back yard that you stated would be moved a week ago!" "We will be out next Friday." "My neighbor is going to be rather PISSED by then!" Why is that?" "Because in 60 minutes I'm cutting it with my tree trimmer!" They were there in 45 minutes. Just to be sure, we contacted the couple of neighbors who might have needed a line this size. Both said it wasn't theirs. So I called SWB back and discussed it further. They still denied it was their line. I told them I understood, but just so there wouldn't be any surprises, I told them we had an excavator scheduled to remove the line and make the repairs to our sewer the next day. Within an hour we had a SWB crew on site. They paid for the sewer repair, the cost to replace a bunch of carpet and some misc bills we'd incurred. Funny how that works, huh? Of course, when you're talking to "Bob" in India, and you each can't understand what the other is saying to begin with.... |