atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Sometimes you CAN win.

While I believe that this is true, I recently encountered a situation where a customer (a golf course) had a new 25 pair feed cable buried to a canteen at the 19th hole. The prior technician stole a pair from Verizon's original five pair drop and back fed an extension to another five pair drop that went out to a courtesy phone further out on the course. They opened up Verizon's pedestal and Scotchloked the first pair of each drop together to complete the circuit. At some point, the second drop got cut and someone who didn't know any better called VZ to fix it.

When they discovered 'foreign' dial tone on the cable, they refused to fix it and threatened to charge the customer for OPX services via their facilities. They cut the drop at both ends at ground level (sabotaged) and insisted that the customer provide their own cable between the building and the courtesy phone, which is why we were brought in.

We used to encounter these situations when installing COCOTs (pay phones) using existing Bell Atlantic wiring. When they removed their phones, they would often cut their cables off flush in the conduits and pour sealant into them to render them useless. It was so ridiculous. If they couldn't make money on a property, they went out of their way to ensure that nobody else would be able to do so either. This was especially prevalent in major cities with a strong union presence. I don't think that it was necessarily company policy though because many of our new installations were sabotaged by people who obviously had the necessary security tools to enter the pedestals. In one instance in Baltimore, they went as far as to remove the nuts from our new anchor bolts so that the pedestal was unsecured. It tipped over, injured a child's toes and our insurance company ended up paying out a huge settlement for our supposed 'negligence'.

I remember at Univ. of Tenn. after we refused to pay ransom for So. Bells station cable, they said they would cut all their old station cable flush with the conduit. Also wanted $.50 a duct foot rent on their outside plant conduit( which I dont think they even owned). UT responded that they would charge So. Bell for occupying their duct space after we rewired everything. Strangely, we didnt hear anymore about it after that.

They did something similar with one of our customers in Maryland in the late 80s. They said if the customer didn't pay for all of the inside wiring (some ridiculous amount), they would remove it.

All they did was cut the 900 pair riser cable flush at the conduit and left everything else in place. What a waste to destroy a cable of that size for no other reason than to get even with the 'competition'.

Ed,

The fact that there were Verizon pedestals makes for a sticky situation. Technically, if they still have working pairs in their pedestals, then just opening the pedestals is considered vandalism by Verizon Security. If there were no working pairs, then the golf course would have to formally notify Verizon that they were considering the pedestals as abandoned. If they respond, then they will probably ask for payment. If they don't respond, then there is deliberate legal action that must be taken to insure there is no "blow back" from Verizon.

In 1974, I installed a 400 line crossbar PBX in a Howard Johnson's motel in Pittsburgh. The motel management bought the riser cable (600 pair PIC) from the then Bell Telephone. The cable was terminated, in the basement, on a 600 pair solder protector frame. The old PBX was a stepper.

On the night of cutover, the Bell Telephone foreman walked in the phone room with a big H.K. Porter ratchet cable cutter and whacked that cable right at the conduit and then walked away.

That left zero telephone service to all the guest rooms.

I knew there was a pulling loop hidden in a corner of the basement in a pull box, so I pulled that stub out enough to splice enough pairs to get the rooms going again by 5 AM....that's when wake-up calls were made....manually.

From that time on, I NEVER trusted ANY operating company to leave working pairs.

Rcaman

We just took on this customer, in fact, this was our second service call at the site. Whatever was done with the old drops was long before we got there. The pedestal is at the dead end of a 25 pair leg with nothing else working on it, but I agree that since it ties back into an aerial distribution cable down the road, it is still theirs. We were hired to come in and clean up these 'situations' that exist all over the property.

We had a similar situation with a country club here. For whatever reason, Bell Telephone peppered the entire property with pedestals and 12 and 25 pair PIC. All the cables terminated in a "hut" off property in a right of way.

The management had purchased a key system from a "snake oil salesman" who was also a member. It was a Toshiba and this guy's company just installed the telephone sets in all the outbuildings using Bell's cables.

This story could be pages and pages, however, for brevity's sake, I'll get to the middle. Bell's legal beagles sent the country club a letter stating that the Bell Telephone equipment was illegally opened and connections made and there would be an immediate disconnect of all Bell Telephone services as well as a hefty "usage" bill. Further, Bell Telephone would seek punitive damages as well.

This case was watched, very closely, by all the "interconnects" at the time. The case went to court and the cocky owner of the interconnect decided he didn't need representation and acted as his own counsel.

The judge agreed with Bell Telephone and the country club ended up paying $117,500 to Bell Telephone.

Fast forward 20 years and the pedestals were still there and the country club wanted to make some changes, build some buildings, etc. and those cables and pedestals were in the way. We were called and, knowing the history, I immediately called our attorney and the Public Utility Commission. After several phone calls and legal papers, Verizon relinquished all ownership of the cables and pedestals, even though there were working pairs in them.

You see, since Bell Telephone did what they did earlier, they were on the hook for relocation and maintenance of the equipment. Verizon took the easy way out and abandoned all of it.

Rcaman