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Copper Thieves Start Targeting Power and Cable-TV Lines Creating Major Outages

Phillip Dampier May 30, 2012 Consumer News, Rural Broadband, Video, Windstream 3 Comments

This scrap copper wire is as good as gold

While telephone companies continue to suffer repeated outages from copper wire thieves, the growing problem of copper theft has now begun to impact cable-TV providers and even electric service in some areas.

Over the Memorial Day holiday, thieves were busy stripping phone, cable, and electric wiring from utility poles, underground conduit, and even buildings. Windstream suffered significant losses in the greater Tulsa area late last week when thieves sliced through wiring supporting phone, television, and broadband service, quickly spooling it up on pickup trucks to be hauled to copper recyclers, often to finance drug habits.

Windstream reports the problem of copper wire theft is growing and becoming more widespread, especially in out of the way places where thieves are not likely to be caught in the act. The Tulsa-area copper capers are characterized as semi-professional because thieves are starting to use professional tools to quickly slice through wiring and can scoop up 1,000 feet or more of cable in minutes.

Copper theft has even become a problem in office parks, where thieves are stealing high voltage electrical cables, often at the point where they attach to buildings. One Albuquerque radio station was off the air for nearly 14 hours after thieves ripped the radio station’s electrical wiring right off the building and out of the underground conduit.

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KOKI Tulsa Thieves cut copper and knock out cable 5-25-12.mp4[/flv]

KOKI in Tulsa takes a look at the latest wave in copper cable theft — stealing cable television -and- telephone wires that disrupt phone, TV and Internet service all at once. (Warning: Loud Volume) (2 minutes)

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KOB Albuquerque Copper thieves knock local radio station off the air 5-30-12.mp4[/flv]

KOB in Albuquerque talks with a nearby radio station taken off the air when cable thieves cut the building’s electrical wiring and yanked some of it right out of the ground.  (2 minutes)

Southern Ohio Copper Thieves Cripple Phone, 911, Broadband Service for 8,000

Phillip Dampier April 5, 2012 Consumer News, Frontier, Public Policy & Gov't, Rural Broadband, Video Comments Off on Southern Ohio Copper Thieves Cripple Phone, 911, Broadband Service for 8,000

Appalachia: A major target for copper theft

Some 8,000 residents in Pike, Scioto, and Jackson counties found themselves without phone service when copper thieves mistakenly cut a critical fiber optic line serving Frontier Communications customers across the region.

As a result, phone service, broadband, 911, and even ATM machines were left out of order for hours last Wednesday, not restored until Thursday afternoon.

Pike County Sheriff Richard Henderson told WBNS-TV the outage was devastating for emergency responders.

“It’s a fear for us, because we depend on it for people to be able to call us for emergency situations,” Henderson said.

As a result of the fiber cut, the department was able to forward cellular 911 calls to neighboring counties, but the delay in response could have been life-threatening in some cases.

Frontier and other phone companies in Appalachia have been particularly hard-hit by copper theft, often committed by those with substance abuse problems.

Scrap copper prices remain very high, and some scrap dealers are accused of looking the other way when suspiciously-obtained “scrap copper” is delivered for a cash sale.

Brazen copper thieves have even stripped copper phone wiring in broad daylight, literally tearing it off utility poles as they drive down rural country roads.

Some of the worst problems have occurred in West Virginia, where lawmakers are beefing up criminal penalties for copper theft in an effort to control the problem.

Unfortunately for phone companies like Frontier, thieves often mistake fiber optic cabling — worthless for scrap metal resale — for copper, and with phone companies increasingly dependent on fiber to move a substantial amount of data traffic and phone calls between central offices and beyond, a single fiber cut can create major headaches for customers, and an expensive, often complex repair job for technicians.

Some companies in hard-hit areas are now building network redundancy into their service areas, allowing for quicker restoration of service.

That won’t help customers who are missing the phone cable that used to wind through their neighborhood, but maintaining a backup could be a life-saver in cases where phone companies rely on fiber and copper cables to move large numbers of calls between their switching centers and beyond.

[flv width=”600″ height=”356″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WBNS Columbus Thieves Cripple 911 Internet Phone Services In Pike Scioto Jackson Counties 3-30-12.f4v[/flv]

WBNS in Columbus covered the extensive impact copper theft can have disrupting daily life in southern Ohio.  (3 minutes)

 

Time Warner Cable Suffers Nationwide Outage, But At Least It Didn’t Last Long

Phillip Dampier November 7, 2011 Consumer News 4 Comments

The nationwide outage lasted just a few minutes for some, about 20 minutes for others.

Time Warner Cable customers across the country noticed a nationwide outage of the cable company’s broadband service this morning.

Customers from New York to California to Texas first noticed the outage at around 9am EST, which appeared to first affect the company’s DNS servers, but attempts to switch to other DNS providers only worked briefly before they began to fail as well.  Inbound and outbound traffic was impacted.

The outage lasted approximately 20 minutes for customers relying on Time Warner’s DNS servers and just a few minutes for those who don’t.  Thanks to Stop the Cap! reader Tom for dropping us a note and letting us know.  We already knew — Stop the Cap! HQ is powered by Time Warner Cable broadband and it was out of service here in Rochester, N.Y. as well.

The company acknowledged the “large but brief Internet outage affecting most of our service areas” and requested customers still impacted reboot their cable modems.  That’s advice unlikely to help those who can’t access the Internet to read those instructions, however.

Because the outage lasted less than one hour, and only a few minutes for many, customers are not entitled to service credits this time.

It could be worse.  Some AT&T and Cablevision customers in parts of Connecticut are expecting to be without Internet or cable service for as long as two weeks after the snow storm that struck the area Oct. 29-30, bringing down utility poles and cable lines.

At least 50,000 people in the Nutmeg State have begun their second week without electricity as Connecticut Light and Power missed their self-imposed deadline to get the lights back on by midnight last night.  Power isn’t expected to be fully restored until Wednesday.  Cable and telephone crews cannot begin repair efforts until electrical service is up and running.

Southern California Power/Phone Companies Blamed for Wildfire, $99 Million Fine Proposed

Phillip Dampier October 26, 2011 AT&T, Consumer News, Public Policy & Gov't, Sprint, Verizon, Wireless Broadband Comments Off on Southern California Power/Phone Companies Blamed for Wildfire, $99 Million Fine Proposed

Wildfires can result when overloaded utility poles topple in California's Santa Ana winds.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s Consumer Protection and Safety Division is recommending $99 million in fines against the local power utility and several phone companies for overloading power poles with cables which toppled and started a major wildfire in Malibu Canyon in 2007.

Even worse, the PUC alleges, the power company lied to investigators and destroyed evidence to cover up the cause of the blaze, which burned more than a dozen structures to the ground and destroyed dozens of vehicles.

Named in addition to Southern California Edison are phone companies: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, and NextC Networks of California. All are being blamed for loading up phone poles with excessive wiring for both traditional utility service and backhaul wired connections to serve area cell towers. The bulk of the proposed fine is likely to be lodged against Edison because of the evidence tampering allegations, but phone companies are also deemed liable.

At issue are the annual bouts of Santa Ana winds which can create gusts up to 80mph or higher. Most utility poles were designed to support a load of a few power cables, landline phone service, and cable television lines. But in many parts of canyon country, wireless phone companies rely heavily on utility poles to connect to their network of cell towers which are strategically located on ridges and mountains to serve populated valley regions below. While some cell phone companies now rely on fiber connections, many also still utilize a series of copper wire circuits to provide sufficient wireless capacity. In some cases, companies may hang several cables to meet bandwidth needs. The more cables, the more susceptible poles become to wind loads, which can literally snap poles in half or force them out of the ground in high wind gusts.

When electric lines topple, they can start fires that quickly grow out of control in remote areas.

Downed power lines are blamed for a number of wildfires in California, including the 2008 Sesnon fire in the San Fernando Valley. Fire investigators and local officials have pressured utility companies to mitigate the hazards from downed power lines by keeping excess cables and equipment off the poles.

Hans Laetz, a Malibu resident who has lived with what he calls “spindly-looking utility poles” for more than a decade was not surprised when life-threatening wildfires were blamed on downed lines.

“My family and my neighbors in Malibu are being placed at risk,” Laetz told the Los Angeles Times. “I drove under those poles on Malibu Canyon Road for 10 years, and I thought one of these days, one of those poles was going to fall. You could tell this was a disaster waiting to happen…. And then it happened.”

Edison denied the allegations it mislead investigators and called the proposed fine “excessive.”

Goodnight Irene: Some Customers Will Have to Wait Until October for Restored Internet Service

Cablevision: Don't Call Us

By the time Hurricane Irene reached upstate New York and New England, it was a tropical storm some say was over-hyped from the outset, but don’t tell that to utility companies facing weeks of service restorations that will leave some of their customers offline until October.

The worst damage to infrastructure was done in this region, with utility poles swept away in flood waters right along with the homes they used to serve.  Telephone and cable companies in several parts of the region cannot even begin to restore service until higher-priority electric service is brought back.  Besides, you can’t use a broadband connection if your power has been out for a week plus.

Those addicted to their online connection are making due in parking lots and other Wi-Fi hotspots where service prevailed over Irene.  Wireless connectivity from cell phone companies is also getting a workout, assuming customers are aware of usage caps and limitations which could make September’s bill much higher than expected.

Stop the Cap! has learned some DSL service restoration appointments in upstate New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire are now extending into October, although companies suggest outside work may resolve problems.  Customers with the worst luck face a lengthy wait for the replacement of utility poles, new utility lines to be strung across them, and replacement of individual lines connected from the pole to individual homes.

Some FairPoint Communications customers are finding Irene did a real number on their DSL service even if power outages were limited.

In southwestern New Hampshire, Robert Mitchell was presented with a unique error page on his computer after the lights came back on:

“…we are improving the security of your broadband connection. As such, you have been redirected to the FairPoint Communications broadband service page to install a security update.”

That was a fine idea, except its implementation left customers like Mitchell with the most secure broadband connection around, resistant to all malware and viruses — namely, by not having any connection at all.

My annoyance only increased when I realized that FairPoint may have provided a link to download the security update software, but they were not going to make the process of accessing that software easy.

“Your Web browser (Firefox) and Operating System (Mac) are not compatible with the DSL Security improvement process…please re-open this page on a Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 PC using Internet Explorer,” the message continued.

Bully for me, I have two Macs in the office. Time to call technical support? Nope, sorry. Both of my phone lines use Vonage, a VoIP service that relies on a working DSL modem for dial tone. Cell service at the house was sketchy at best — if I could even get through to technical support during a hurricane.

With the help of an old Windows XP machine, Mitchell managed to finally get back online.  Later, he learned the power spikes and brownouts that preceded the blackout in his neighborhood had caused his DSL modem to resort to its original default settings.  When FairPoint customers first connect a DSL modem, the company prompts them to perform the aforementioned “security update.”  Only FairPoint stopped offering that update more than eight months earlier.  Now, according to Mitchell, it’s just the default start page for newly activated DSL modems.

Customers further east in downstate New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey are finding getting service restoration highly dependent on which provider they use.

Time Warner Cable customers numbering about 350,000 found their service out Wednesday after leftover flooding and debris tore up fiber cables serving Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.  Service was restored that evening.

Cablevision customers in Connecticut are still experiencing new outages caused by flooding, and with power company workers contending with more damage in that state than further south in New York, cable crews can’t restore service until the lights are back on.

Cablevision customers on Long Island are still being told not to bother calling the cable company to report outages.  Those that do are often given a date of Sept. 15 for full service restoration, although it could be sooner if damage in individual neighborhoods is less severe.  A Cablevision spokesman said, “Cablevision is experiencing widespread service interruptions, primarily related to the loss of power.  Cablevision crews are in the field and we will be working around the clock to make necessary repairs, in close coordination with local utilities.  Generally, as electricity is returned to an area, customers will be able to access Cablevision service.”

Verizon customers in downstate New York and New Jersey faced lengthy hold times to report service outages, and are given a range of dates from later this week until mid-September for full service restoration.  Some pockets of very badly damaged infrastructure may take even longer to access and repair.  Verizon’s largest union workforce, under the auspices of Communications Workers of America District 1 are accusing Verizon management of slowing repairs with denials of overtime work requests, in part to punish workers for their recent strike action.  John Bonomo, a Verizon spokesperson, denies that accusation, but added the company is not treating the thousands of customers still without service as an emergency, noting landline service “is not as vital as it had been in past years.”

Comcast customers, mostly in Pennsylvania, Vermont and Massachusetts, are turning to smartphones to cope through extended service outages, according to the Boston Globe:

Comcast Corp. customer Soraya Stevens turned to her iPhone when her cable blew out, logging on to Twitter from her Bedford home for the latest power outage updates. “I would not have any communication or insight without my smartphone,’’ said Stevens, a software engineer.

Some customers who lost cable service lost their TV, Internet, and landline phone, which are often bundled and sold together. Many turned to their smartphones, operating on batteries and the signal from cellphone towers, or friends and family who still had cable service.

AT&T, which serves landline customers in Connecticut, experienced more outages a day or two after Irene departed as battery backup equipment installed at landline central offices finally failed.  Those equipped with diesel generators are still up and running, but many AT&T customers sold a package of broadband and phone service may actually be receiving telephone service over a less-robust Voice Over IP network, supported with battery backup equipment that shuts down after 24 hours, when the batteries are exhausted.  This has left customers with standard copper wire phone service still up and running, but customers on Voice Over IP completely disconnected.

Bill Henderson, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1298, told the Hartford Courant those landlines aren’t considered landlines by the Department of Utility Control, and aren’t regulated for reliability, as the old system is.

“Technology has risen. Some of the things we’ve given up in that system is reliability,” he said. “This is what I’ve been screaming about to the DPUC. It’s a telephone! We need to regulate this service.”

Customers are also complaining loudly about AT&T’s poor wireless performance during Irene, with many tower outages and service disruptions that are still ongoing.

Remember, when services are restored, be sure and contact your provider and request a full service credit.  You will not receive one unless you ask.

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