This is California. General Contractor and building owner decided to chop the good 100-pair service cable that runs to their MPOE. Cable is cut at finished floor so not repairable and the conduit to the street may be capped. Building is undergoing improvements and basically gutted and rebuilt. MPOE was supposed to stay based on initial site survey. New owner and sole tenant is getting fiber pulled to the building from Time Warner Cable for voice/data. I'm not sure about the city requirements but I'm pretty sure the fire marshal will require at least one good old POTS line for the fire panel.

Questions are:
1) Do they need to have copper to the building?
2) If yes, who do we contact? They'll want to relocate the MPOE.

Who is the LEC? Pac-Bel or maybe AT&T? You need to find that out first. Then contact them for resolution to the problem.

Here is PA, the AHJ will demand a copper POTS line to fire panels. I don't know what is going on in California.

Rcaman

Most likely AT&T. My biggest concern is not knowing if they'll need copper services ever again and does cutting this cable mean we'll have to report the cut to the LEC.

I would. Somewhere, someone down the line is going to say "Well, we HAD copper service into the building. I bet the company that was putting in the new telephone wiring, Absolute Communications, cut it off."

Save yourself a migraine and call the LEC and report the condition. What they do, when they do it and how much they will charge is not your problem.

Rcaman

You are going to need a dedicated POTS line for the Primary Fire Alarm line. The Secondary line can be almost any type of line that will work with the panel.

use wireless dialer for fire

Wireless dialers for fire panels are subject to the local AHJ. There is no point arguing with the Fire Marshal about the merits of evolving technology. It rarely ends up good for you and your client. There are some cities down here that allow wireless but it varies. I'll just have to make a call.

Thanks for the input. Since it wasn't us that authorized the cable to be cut, I may just inform the LEC and leave it at that.

You're doing the right thing in notifying at&t and making sure that they know. They won't know otherwise and may take orders based upon facilities that they know (knew) to be there for future tenants. At least they'll be able to be proactive in getting the facilities restored in some manner.

There's the other issue that this cable's pair count may have multiple appearances at other addresses. If that's the case, this chopped cable may be generating dozens of troubles for other customers. It happens quite frequently.

Depending upon the tariffs in the state, the building's owner may be on the hook for the costs for replacement, since it is generally understood that these facilities are never under the building owner's control or ownership. It's a price that they pay in connecting the building to the outside world via a regulated service provider. Cable is still optional. Telephone still isn't.

Now... Getting through to someone who will actually listen and understand what you're trying to tell them. Well, that's a completely different animal.