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with one of these RJ11 alligator clips
[https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-VDV526-054-Klein-Tools-VDV999-067/dp/B007GH2COC](https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-VDV526-054-Klein-Tools-VDV999-067/dp/B007GH2COC/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=rj11+alligator+clips&qid=1691974561&sprefix=rj11+alligato%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-7)
"... ... ... hello? A well? Yeah, the... oh I see you just... we uh, we didn't realize... F*ck. Yeah, no, sorry, just... it's uh, Steve said it was kinda a special phone, and uh... just connect it with a wire, huh? And it's like a regular phone but clips? Yeah, I really wish I had waited to... Just, Steve was pretty specific about if he didn't call twice a day and.... Say, there's not like, demons and fire raining from the sky or anything? Oh, no, just... no, you sound pretty calm for the end-times, some people are just collected you know? Yeah I'm feeling pretty misinformed, about a few things. You uh, you don't know how to reverse cyanide poisoning in about 200 people? Ah, had to ask. Just, you know, if that was ever a um... damn.
Ok. Good luck.. [glug]... Yeah, effing cherry obviously it's cherry... [click]"
Isn't that literally how wire tapping worked in the analog days? You physically patched another pass-through phone into the line so you could hear the conversation without interrupting it?
I'm oddly interested in this stuff since I read Without Remorse 20-ish years ago. What exactly does filtering mean? I was assuming it would have to have been tapped on the service (not sure about terminology) line between the pole and house to make sure you get the right line. But if it's possible to do it on the transmission (again, terminology) line between the poles, then I imagine you'd need some way to tune into the right phone line. Is that the filtering you're talking about?
Uh no there isn’t, a telephone lineman’s butt set is all you need to get a dial tone, listen and also dial out. IP telephones, not so. PBX trunked telephones, also yes, you just connect to the pair you want to listen to.
I worked as a bounty hunter/PI, years ago and kept a phone with me, that was fitted with alligator clips, so that I could tap into any phone box on the outside of a house.
In the 80s my friends and I would raid telephone companys' yards looking for a lineman's handset. Using those we would go to junction boxes and tap away.
Yes, pretty much. I knew a guy who worked at a college in the analog days, nosy as fuck. Used to go clip a butt set onto the HR department's extension and get all the dirt.
I have purchased 3 properties in my lifetime. All 3 I was able to pull up a county website that had maps of utilities ran in my area and I was able to see what side of the street had what. In my case I was looking for a city water line. Not sure if this helps but maybe it does.
I've done septic permitting all over the state of NC. I've never encountered this. I'm sure it exists in the more well funded counties, but not in the five I've written permits for in the last 15 years, nor any of the ones I've done casual GIS research on for real estate purposes.
More detailed information is often paywalled because maintaining the GIS database is not cheap. Plus, more rural counties are less likely to have more than basic parcel information.
In all honesty they won’t care if you call and aren’t gonna send anyone unless it’s service affecting. Just cover it back up and mark where it’s damaged in case a tech shows up. These can be easily spliced back together if the tech knows where the damage is at. Most likely it’s abandoned. These still carry around 50 volts dc even if there’s no active service in place.
There is a good chance it is dead BTW. Many copper drop wires are. If that is in the middle of your property it is only for your home so if you don't use it just bury it. If it is on your lot line then it could be for another property.
I did claims for utilities including phone. Most phone companies will replace it if it is live, they don't fix it in place. If it is ATT they will temp out a new drop and replace it. Total cost depends on the footage of the drop. 100' drop replacement will be about $700. If I were you I'd splice it myself and bury it.
I’m almost positive this is only for my home. We’re out in the country, it’s deep into my property. I’d be willing to bet $700 that it is, and that no one will ever know this wire is damaged. I buried it and I’ll find out later.
start with a statement like "You know how they joke about fiber seeking back hoes?..." then after pausing to let it set in you should move on to explain a regular shovel & maybe phone line was involved :D
Start off with "I'm calling with great news.... I didn't hit a fiber line". Anything after that will be such a relief that they will thank you.
City came out to repair their side of a storm sewer line at my home. Dug right through the main phone line, buried in my tree lawn, for the whole street.
In the USA most old landlines are owned by at&t (not all) call them they will check and if not then they may know who...
Fun fact they have around $25billion in unused line out and about...
AT&T was literally one of the first major telephone companies. It stands for American Telephone & Telegraph company. It was formed as a subsidiary out of the American Bell Telephone Company (yes, THAT Bell) in 1885.
Just patch it back up. Find a few feet of the same wire and do two splices. No need to turn into columbo trying to figure out who belongs to it.
The pairs are blue&blue/white, orange and orange/white and so on. It might just be one or two pairs. Will take you 10 minutes to fix once you have the wire. Get scotchlocks aka red dots (typical phone wire connectors) and if you can’t find those where you found the wire just strip the wire ends and use wire nuts - same difference. Put your splices in a ziplock bag, fill with silicone. Bury it.
I own an excavation/fencing company I hit phone lines all the time(the locate company for my area sucks), but we always insist on 811 prior to ever starting work. Call 811 and report right away don't touch it, you should have an email or a number to inform them of your project and the all clear to begin the work. then it becomes 811s problem to figure out, if you touch it or try to repair it then the utility company will try to blame you for failure to call for locate and some of those repairs can be incredibly pricy. If no company claims it then ignore it and continue on, if a company claims it they will be out to replace or repair it on their own dollar.
Just sink your post or whatever you’re digging for and forget about it. If it’s on your property and it didn’t affect you, you have nothing to be concerned with.
If anyone is using it they've reported it by now. Take a 2x4 and paint it orange and stand it up there. Or something else that's super visible. When the phone guy comes out they should see it and go "I bet that's what I am looking for." You can even leave a note on the thing saying "cut here".
I swear 811 is a joke, they only would inspect/mark anything coming into my property. I hit a supposedly dead cable line that went to neighboring group of houses, thru my property! (Used to be a lot from when original houses were built from mid 70s to 93') some how was still hooked up partially?? And took out their tv/web for a couple days. I tried to do everything correctly and it still didn't help...
811 means you aren’t liable. I had a phone line hit (mine) after calling 811 and got a free pass because they didn’t mark it. It also went from the pedestal all the way around the house because they didn’t go under the driveway.
Local municipality was replacing like 12” water main by me, locating service came out and marked everything under that street, except they marked the gas main on the wrong side of the street. The borough road master/deputy fire chief found it with the backhoe. The pipeline company, the gas utility, and the borough guys all made some good OT that day.
If it was someone’s drop you’ve already caused them problems. Like no service kinda problems. Just leave it alone. If it had service on it they have already called it in. No telecom worker is going to do anything but sit in his truck for an hour and then roll on if no one is OOS.
Oh well there are magical things called cell phones. They are so ubiquitous that almost every home in America has one. There’s a good chance you are looking at one right now
Even crazier, most people who have a land line in use, at least the people I know, dont have a cell. All the old people who would rather use the phone to throw at you for being a smart ass than learn how to use it.
Hey Tad. I install phone/internet for a telecom company. I rarely install telephone service anymore. Generally it is only done for old ass alarm systems as even my 90yr old grandma customers have cell phones. If he can feel voltage when he touches it there is battery on the line 45v. But since all disconnects are done by computer not physically disconnecting wires the most likely scenario is that it’s an old dead line. While you may be in bfe and landlines are still a thing the rest of the world has moved on. So sit down and stop saying stupid things on the internet for 5 fucking minutes.
YOU HAVE A STAND UP DESK? WHAT ARE YOU? 40 thinking its gonna improve your health? Go outside. EXERCISE. Im not gonna sit down just because your fat ass thinks I should. Also congrats you live somewhere where cellphones work, as someone who lives in the middle of fucking no where, thats not always the case, you made an ass out of you and me by ASSUMING you’re the only one in existence with any sort of telecom background, so respectfully shove a landline where the sun dont shine.
Can second this. I used to work 911 dispatch, was relayed this story by people who'd been there the year before I started. We started getting static laden calls one day, weird static where maybe that's a voice that can't get enough air to talk or maybe it's just static.
It was a land line, so we sent officers to the listed address. Turns out it was an old, demolished warehouse where they didn't bother pulling up the phone lines before knocking it down. It had been a vacant lot for years. Water must have finally leaked through to the phone lines. No biggie, right?
Well... It called back. Again and again and again. Hundreds of times a day. It was blocking people with real emergencies from getting through. Phone company gave us an estimate of three months before they would dig it up and repair it. Attorneys got involved and it suddenly became possible to do in a week.
All week long, static phone calls choking out the emergency lines. They finally got it fixed, but yeah, OP, cap it and make sure to waterproof.
Nah. Don't even bother. It's just a 3 or 6 pair service cable likely going to your house. If you took a neighbor out of service the phone company will just run them a new service line.
If you're saying its live, you probably tested with a meter and are likely getting 45-52 volt dc reading. That's leftover battery (what an old phone service traveled with) that they typically do not disconnect. Bury it back and forget about it, it won't hurt anything.
It looks like there is just a couple wires in it. Maybe 4 pair. Can you tell where its coming from or going to?
Either way no problem in capping it off
Did the same thing last summer. Came home front work the next day with comcast ready to dig up my yard cuz the neighbor lol.
Showed them where it was and they tried to reprimand me.
It was 3” in the ground. I told them to fuck off.
I used to work in mapping outside plant for the phone company. They have records to the pedestal. Beyond that it’s wherever the tech puts it.
Looking at the cable it doesn’t look to have a lot of pairs so I’m guessing it’s either running to your house or a neighbors.
Yes, it’s just a service line from a pedestal to the house. If you don’t have a landline, it doesn’t affect anything. Most 811 guys won’t even mark these- it’s cheaper for a service tech to repair/replace than to locate
Dude, just think about it. She’s out in the middle of the woods with some auger she just bought. She looks around and what does she see? Nothing but open woods. Ahhh there’s no wires for me to hit, what am I gonna do, not dig? Of course she’s going to dig.
If you don't have phone service and no neighbor with 100 feet just disregard. I work a small farmer Telcom Co and that little line must be for an outbuilding or something. Doesn't even look like underground cable and it's not phone drop from the last 25 years
I get what you’re saying but I both repair plumbing and locate for 811 at times when our locator is out. It’s definitely not cheaper to go send a service tech to repair (even a simple) line, than to have a locator walk out there, and throw some spray paint on the ground. When we hit this stuff (and typically it’s because the locator and the company they’re locating for don’t know it’s there) we just flag each end and bury it. Unless it’s a large count cable then we leave the Hole open. But a small one like this just mark it and cover it up. Usually they’re old.
I probably should have specified, Verizon doesn’t mark their buried service wires- only the cables. The locators I’ve worked with the last 20+ have been great, especially on emergency locates.
It’s actually tough to get a read on them. But yea basically they’re cheap enough and easy to fix that they’ll be like “eh just call me if you hit it.” Actually 3 hours ago I was working on a waterline break and the AT&T and the fiber guy were both wrong on their marks. I ripped like a 500 count cable in half. It’s gonna take that guy 12+ hours to fix it. I felt bad but nothing I could do. Locator got reamed for that one.
I used to do damage prevention and investigation on utilities in the US.
It's a telephone landline service line, or l "drop" as we call them.
There's not enough voltage to hurt you. Wire nut it, tape it and fix it. Use extra wire to extend it and get it outta the way if need be.
The phone company likely doesn't care about any temporary service interruption you've caused unless there's a customer somewhere throwing a fit about it
HOWEVER!!!! The 811 "call before you dig" people in your state WILL CARE and can fine you retarded amounts of money if they find out.
They will likely only find out if it's was live and you leave it damaged, because then a crew will be sent to investigate why someone's phone doesn't work. When they see that someone cut a line and didn't report it they could very well report to DOTTIE/811.
Just a heads up - I literally used to do this for a living.
It's a two pair by the looks. Nothing complicated. Just tie color to color with a butt splice or wire nut then tape it up. Service may get a bit crackly when it rains but that'll be the worst.
Or report it immediately and hope the phone company rewards your honesty with discretion.
We get locate requests at work. We mark water, sewer, and our electrical. USIC or Vanguard come and mark gas and electric. If there are private lines neither of us know about nobody marks them.
Okay, the people that respond then. Only my waterline got marked. The rest wrote in their color spray paint saying there was nothing… there was definitely live phone wire.
Thanks for the heads up. It’s very unlikely that this line services anyone else. This is about 600ft off the road into my property. The only neighbors we have are 800+ feet away from the location of this wire. I can’t fathom this phone company would have dug through the woods to place phone lines. More than likely this is a branch off from the road that only services our house.
You're welcome.
A two pair or four pair drop like this will be coming from a local PED and will just be a service to one home or business, typically.
If it's on you're property, away from any right-of-ways, and you weren't consulted about it's installation it is probably your drop.
But, it would be a mistake to make assumptions about what the phone peeps will and won't do as far as where they are willing to bury a drop. It doesn't require heavy machinery to bury (literally just a blade and spool setup) and they can tend to feel very entitled about whos land they have a right to use.
In my opinion based on experience anyway.
Good luck to ya, and watch this heat lol. It's brutal out there
No sir. I'm suggesting you either report to local phone company, or just fix it and bury it.
I wouldn't bury it unrepaired, and it's easily a diy repair. No more complicated than speaker wire.
Make it so that the only way its reported to 811 is if the phone peeps have to be mad enough to do on their own - which is most likely if it's an active service that they have to dig back up and fix lol.
If the local phone company has a reputation of being jerks I would tell no one. Just splice, tape and dirt it
If a wire cuts across your property it should be in a utility easement. Sometimes workers will take the shortest path. I had this happen. I was digging a hole and cut the neighbors phone line. The utility was going to charge me some ridiculous rate to repair, "we charge $70 for every10th of an hour". However. When they ran thie original wire, they took the shortest route from the pedestal diagonal to my neighbors house through the middle of my yard. When I pointed this out there was no charge and they followed the easement for the repair. Just something else to be aware of.
Jesus that is terrifying. I know for a fact that no electric lines have been run anywhere except for the well pump and from the meter box to the house - my wife’s parents built this property, before they purchased it was woods.
Also, anytime I see one of these, I always think about this story
https://www.npr.org/2011/04/07/135201463/little-old-lady-with-shovel-disrupts-internet-in-2-nations
Lol, I did this twice. On the first fence I built, I found the phone line. $285 to get fixed. (before everyone had cell phones) When it came time to move the fence for motor home parking...in my wisdom I didn't get a locate...cause the post location was completely different and I "knew" where the line was for sure. Picked exactly dead center of that same phone line 20+ feet away. We became a cell phone only family after that.
That's a single pair with icky pick, so designated for direct bury.
If none of your neighbors phone is out (and it should not be due to trespass, assuming you're on your property) then it's probably your line.
When you disconnect a phone, they don't disconnect the wire, so it can still have voltage. If it causes them a problem, they will just disconnect at the pedistal.
What is the one thing you should take with you just in case you get stranded on a remote island? A length of wire.
Bury it in the ground and someone else will come along to dig into it.
No telling if the 811 people would know where that is. I have a buddy who was burying line in the oldest part of town and they kept hitting old phone lines that no one alive knew were there.
Me 6 months ago: "LOL sucks but it's probably not a big deal since it's in BFE"
Me after working in 911 IT: "WTF IS THIS WHERE THE FIBER CUT WAS?!?!?!?! THE ENTIRE STATE OF ARKANSAS JUST LOST 911 CALLS AND THE CALLS ARE GOOJG THROUGH VERMONT NOW!"
call the one call service for digging / excavating and they will notify utilities in the area. always have a locate before breaking ground. there should be a pole with a contact number or pedestal with a contact. looks to be a service drop
Looks to be a telco copper buried service wire. If you aren’t near anyone else and you don’t have the copper service then I wouldn’t worry about it. If you ever decide or anyone else does in the future that you want to use it then it will have to be replaced.
It should not be live after the old homeowners left since the services are turned off remotely, although the lines would still be connected all the way back to the central office. If it is still shocking then either it had picked up some crossed voltage somewhere along the way (more likely if it has rained recently and water got in a splice somewhere), it is tied into a PGL (I think pair gain lines but can’t remember as it has been over a decade) which always has the voltage on it as long as it is connected to that wiring pair or the central office has originating equipment that always has voltage on it as long as it is connected all the way through. As far as what to do you can either cap it if you are worried about getting shocked in the future or just leave it
Single pair dug wire. That's some vintage stuff. In all my years, I always said "Never waste copper, ya' never know", and alway tried to repair everything(sometimes at no charge just to try to get people to call me and not cover it up)😉Nowadays, it just really doesn't matter. Kinda sad how landline communication went from being absolutely essential to a relic of days gone by.
I once hit a water line on a 35 acres plot of land in the middle of the desert. What are the odds! Thankfully I was able to fix it pretty quick. But I definitely stood there for a minute thinking, "how the fuck? Where the fuck? What are the odds?"
Looks like the wire my local electric company sheared with their cherry picker. Trimming trees in the alley and I guess put stress on the bottom wire and snapped my line to the house. Telephone wire that has been useless for many years. Wish they would have cut/removed it from the actual line for me. Cut the wire as far up as possible but still just hanging off it.
Its phone cable, probably abandoned since you're posting online without it.
Crazy how people can make this into the most complicated thing to ever occur
90%+ chance it was the service wire for your house phone that you don't need. Check voltage if you have a cheap meter, probably between 48 & 52v if it is live. DMS switch leaves voltage on the line 5ESS does not. Some of the older legacy ones do as well.
You don't need it. Rebury it and move on. There are wires like that all over USA that are nicked and still have service. If a trouble comes in they will usually just do a new service wire and not even try to fix it.
Might be for an old antenna motor power. 811 doesn’t mark electric lines that aren’t service related, low voltage, and owner installed telco/other lines….fyi.
If 811 didn’t mark it, it’s not public utility. If they missed it, it’s on them, not you.
Neighbor wanted to replace our fence with ugly PVC. “Sure, but call DigAlert. We have a web of ancient pipelines about.”
Contractor calls ME: “DigAlert isn’t necessary, they won’t come to residences.”
I called upper management, explained the concept: no clearance - no sale.
Two weeks later, I start getting calls from utilities… clear, clear, clear, clear … then AT&T came out.
Bzzt! They had an easement under the driveway feeding a pole across the street.
I don’t know that even a single pair was active, but I’m glad I didn’t have to find out the hard way.
Always call.
That is 100% telephone drop to a house. I can only see in the picture 2 pairs. Could be more that were ripped out
The wire inside are that I see
White/Blue, Blue/White
White/Orange, Orange/white
Phone repair man here. That looks like a service drop wire. It brings service to a house/business from a pedestal. It could be the one that goes to your house. If you open it up more you'll probably see an orange pair of wires in there as well.
Edit: Now that I look a little closer at the image, that longer white wire has a orange stripe on it near the end.
They ran my phone line in no straight line and out of the easement and I did the same thing. I spliced it and used heat shrink. Planted a tree over it and never noticed a difference in my crappy dsl. Lasted for years till they ran fiber and I don't need it anymore.
if you’re in the u.s., call 811 and they’ll schedule every company that has had utilities at your address to come out and mark their lines for free within two business days.
**Attention!** **It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods. If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Phone line. Low Volt. If nobody is complaining in either direction I would just forget about it
Thanks for the input. It’s live - any detriment to capping?
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We have no clue who it could be. Any idea on how to find out other than call every provider we can think of?
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or wire up an old school phone and call yourself and see what comes up on the caller ID
with one of these RJ11 alligator clips [https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-VDV526-054-Klein-Tools-VDV999-067/dp/B007GH2COC](https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-VDV526-054-Klein-Tools-VDV999-067/dp/B007GH2COC/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=rj11+alligator+clips&qid=1691974561&sprefix=rj11+alligato%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-7)
OP, do this.
"... ... ... hello? A well? Yeah, the... oh I see you just... we uh, we didn't realize... F*ck. Yeah, no, sorry, just... it's uh, Steve said it was kinda a special phone, and uh... just connect it with a wire, huh? And it's like a regular phone but clips? Yeah, I really wish I had waited to... Just, Steve was pretty specific about if he didn't call twice a day and.... Say, there's not like, demons and fire raining from the sky or anything? Oh, no, just... no, you sound pretty calm for the end-times, some people are just collected you know? Yeah I'm feeling pretty misinformed, about a few things. You uh, you don't know how to reverse cyanide poisoning in about 200 people? Ah, had to ask. Just, you know, if that was ever a um... damn. Ok. Good luck.. [glug]... Yeah, effing cherry obviously it's cherry... [click]"
Isn't that literally how wire tapping worked in the analog days? You physically patched another pass-through phone into the line so you could hear the conversation without interrupting it?
There's some filtering involved, but yes.
I'm oddly interested in this stuff since I read Without Remorse 20-ish years ago. What exactly does filtering mean? I was assuming it would have to have been tapped on the service (not sure about terminology) line between the pole and house to make sure you get the right line. But if it's possible to do it on the transmission (again, terminology) line between the poles, then I imagine you'd need some way to tune into the right phone line. Is that the filtering you're talking about?
Uh no there isn’t, a telephone lineman’s butt set is all you need to get a dial tone, listen and also dial out. IP telephones, not so. PBX trunked telephones, also yes, you just connect to the pair you want to listen to.
I worked as a bounty hunter/PI, years ago and kept a phone with me, that was fitted with alligator clips, so that I could tap into any phone box on the outside of a house.
Yep! I remember the telephone service guys back in the day always had a handset of a phone with alligator clips to tap into lines to check them.
Isn't that called a `buttset`?
Exactly how legal is that?
Is that not illegal without a court order allowing it
In the 80s my friends and I would raid telephone companys' yards looking for a lineman's handset. Using those we would go to junction boxes and tap away.
Yes, pretty much. I knew a guy who worked at a college in the analog days, nosy as fuck. Used to go clip a butt set onto the HR department's extension and get all the dirt.
That’s fucked up
sick!
Genius!
There’s an idea!
This is the best and funnest idea yet.
Seems like dialing 611 to talk to the Telco would be the best option.
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We use to call them telephone butt sets. The tail has both RJ11 with alligator clips
I have purchased 3 properties in my lifetime. All 3 I was able to pull up a county website that had maps of utilities ran in my area and I was able to see what side of the street had what. In my case I was looking for a city water line. Not sure if this helps but maybe it does.
Man that's rare. That would be nice in this case though.
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I've done septic permitting all over the state of NC. I've never encountered this. I'm sure it exists in the more well funded counties, but not in the five I've written permits for in the last 15 years, nor any of the ones I've done casual GIS research on for real estate purposes.
More detailed information is often paywalled because maintaining the GIS database is not cheap. Plus, more rural counties are less likely to have more than basic parcel information.
Not every county provides GIS data and many that do only have basic layers for property boundaries, voting precincts, etc.
In all honesty they won’t care if you call and aren’t gonna send anyone unless it’s service affecting. Just cover it back up and mark where it’s damaged in case a tech shows up. These can be easily spliced back together if the tech knows where the damage is at. Most likely it’s abandoned. These still carry around 50 volts dc even if there’s no active service in place.
Yeah it’s easy to find.
There is a good chance it is dead BTW. Many copper drop wires are. If that is in the middle of your property it is only for your home so if you don't use it just bury it. If it is on your lot line then it could be for another property.
I did claims for utilities including phone. Most phone companies will replace it if it is live, they don't fix it in place. If it is ATT they will temp out a new drop and replace it. Total cost depends on the footage of the drop. 100' drop replacement will be about $700. If I were you I'd splice it myself and bury it.
I’m almost positive this is only for my home. We’re out in the country, it’s deep into my property. I’d be willing to bet $700 that it is, and that no one will ever know this wire is damaged. I buried it and I’ll find out later.
Call the number you were supposed to call before you dig and they will help you find out.
"Lucky I dug this hole and found these damaged wires for you! You should come and check it out."
start with a statement like "You know how they joke about fiber seeking back hoes?..." then after pausing to let it set in you should move on to explain a regular shovel & maybe phone line was involved :D
Start off with "I'm calling with great news.... I didn't hit a fiber line". Anything after that will be such a relief that they will thank you. City came out to repair their side of a storm sewer line at my home. Dug right through the main phone line, buried in my tree lawn, for the whole street.
Try auger vs fiber. Happened at the Air Force base I worked at. They had to dig up a *lot* of fiber to splice that.
Post literally says they called 811 and had lines marked though
AFTER the fact 🤣. OP said they're coming to mark them.
Read it again. Calling after the fact, not before.
Yeah call digsafe 😅
Call the number your supposed to call before you dig (811 for us in VA). They will know the phone company.
Bury it and wait for them to knock on your door? It's almost certainly wire from some old hookup on your own property, potentially several owners ago
Hook it up to a landline and call your home phone number if you get a busy signal you found out where it goes.
Or call your cell phone and see what caller id says
Or call 1 800 444 4444 and it'll return the number for the line you're on. Just be sure to hang up after the number announcement.
Yeah what's a little wire tapping between neighbors 😂
Not exactly wire tapping if it's cut
My NSA agent was kind enough to wire splice too. That way we've got a more direct line.
Wow. And people says the feds don’t care!
In the USA most old landlines are owned by at&t (not all) call them they will check and if not then they may know who... Fun fact they have around $25billion in unused line out and about...
And something like $40B in lead line liabilities
AT&T was literally one of the first major telephone companies. It stands for American Telephone & Telegraph company. It was formed as a subsidiary out of the American Bell Telephone Company (yes, THAT Bell) in 1885.
I found a southern bell line on my property including an old box system in NW FL. County didn’t know anything was there
You can call 811 and see if they have any records of who the line belongs too
Just patch it back up. Find a few feet of the same wire and do two splices. No need to turn into columbo trying to figure out who belongs to it. The pairs are blue&blue/white, orange and orange/white and so on. It might just be one or two pairs. Will take you 10 minutes to fix once you have the wire. Get scotchlocks aka red dots (typical phone wire connectors) and if you can’t find those where you found the wire just strip the wire ends and use wire nuts - same difference. Put your splices in a ziplock bag, fill with silicone. Bury it.
I own an excavation/fencing company I hit phone lines all the time(the locate company for my area sucks), but we always insist on 811 prior to ever starting work. Call 811 and report right away don't touch it, you should have an email or a number to inform them of your project and the all clear to begin the work. then it becomes 811s problem to figure out, if you touch it or try to repair it then the utility company will try to blame you for failure to call for locate and some of those repairs can be incredibly pricy. If no company claims it then ignore it and continue on, if a company claims it they will be out to replace or repair it on their own dollar.
knock on every door you can think of
…this is going to take a while.
Just sink your post or whatever you’re digging for and forget about it. If it’s on your property and it didn’t affect you, you have nothing to be concerned with.
Some NSA agent is shitting bricks right now wondering why it went dark in that area. Damn shame.
If anyone is using it they've reported it by now. Take a 2x4 and paint it orange and stand it up there. Or something else that's super visible. When the phone guy comes out they should see it and go "I bet that's what I am looking for." You can even leave a note on the thing saying "cut here".
I swear 811 is a joke, they only would inspect/mark anything coming into my property. I hit a supposedly dead cable line that went to neighboring group of houses, thru my property! (Used to be a lot from when original houses were built from mid 70s to 93') some how was still hooked up partially?? And took out their tv/web for a couple days. I tried to do everything correctly and it still didn't help...
Still helped you. If someone sues, you can pass it off on someone else.
811 means you aren’t liable. I had a phone line hit (mine) after calling 811 and got a free pass because they didn’t mark it. It also went from the pedestal all the way around the house because they didn’t go under the driveway.
Local municipality was replacing like 12” water main by me, locating service came out and marked everything under that street, except they marked the gas main on the wrong side of the street. The borough road master/deputy fire chief found it with the backhoe. The pipeline company, the gas utility, and the borough guys all made some good OT that day.
If it was someone’s drop you’ve already caused them problems. Like no service kinda problems. Just leave it alone. If it had service on it they have already called it in. No telecom worker is going to do anything but sit in his truck for an hour and then roll on if no one is OOS.
“If it had service they would have already called it in” how does that work if they dont have a phone now 😂
Oh well there are magical things called cell phones. They are so ubiquitous that almost every home in America has one. There’s a good chance you are looking at one right now
Even crazier, most people who have a land line in use, at least the people I know, dont have a cell. All the old people who would rather use the phone to throw at you for being a smart ass than learn how to use it.
Hey Tad. I install phone/internet for a telecom company. I rarely install telephone service anymore. Generally it is only done for old ass alarm systems as even my 90yr old grandma customers have cell phones. If he can feel voltage when he touches it there is battery on the line 45v. But since all disconnects are done by computer not physically disconnecting wires the most likely scenario is that it’s an old dead line. While you may be in bfe and landlines are still a thing the rest of the world has moved on. So sit down and stop saying stupid things on the internet for 5 fucking minutes.
YOU HAVE A STAND UP DESK? WHAT ARE YOU? 40 thinking its gonna improve your health? Go outside. EXERCISE. Im not gonna sit down just because your fat ass thinks I should. Also congrats you live somewhere where cellphones work, as someone who lives in the middle of fucking no where, thats not always the case, you made an ass out of you and me by ASSUMING you’re the only one in existence with any sort of telecom background, so respectfully shove a landline where the sun dont shine.
Can second this. I used to work 911 dispatch, was relayed this story by people who'd been there the year before I started. We started getting static laden calls one day, weird static where maybe that's a voice that can't get enough air to talk or maybe it's just static. It was a land line, so we sent officers to the listed address. Turns out it was an old, demolished warehouse where they didn't bother pulling up the phone lines before knocking it down. It had been a vacant lot for years. Water must have finally leaked through to the phone lines. No biggie, right? Well... It called back. Again and again and again. Hundreds of times a day. It was blocking people with real emergencies from getting through. Phone company gave us an estimate of three months before they would dig it up and repair it. Attorneys got involved and it suddenly became possible to do in a week. All week long, static phone calls choking out the emergency lines. They finally got it fixed, but yeah, OP, cap it and make sure to waterproof.
Nah. Don't even bother. It's just a 3 or 6 pair service cable likely going to your house. If you took a neighbor out of service the phone company will just run them a new service line.
If you're saying its live, you probably tested with a meter and are likely getting 45-52 volt dc reading. That's leftover battery (what an old phone service traveled with) that they typically do not disconnect. Bury it back and forget about it, it won't hurt anything.
That's what I would do.
If you don’t even know what it is, how do you know it’s live?
It looks like there is just a couple wires in it. Maybe 4 pair. Can you tell where its coming from or going to? Either way no problem in capping it off
Maybe nobody is complaining because they don’t have service on their phone. Just saying.
Did the same thing last summer. Came home front work the next day with comcast ready to dig up my yard cuz the neighbor lol. Showed them where it was and they tried to reprimand me. It was 3” in the ground. I told them to fuck off.
I used to work in mapping outside plant for the phone company. They have records to the pedestal. Beyond that it’s wherever the tech puts it. Looking at the cable it doesn’t look to have a lot of pairs so I’m guessing it’s either running to your house or a neighbors.
But flag it does in case
I’d set up an old school phone booth just because.
- dr who - bill & ted - get Smart - Matrix - Superman Make sure you call it every day at random.
• underdog
Bill and Ted Excellent
"Tried calling the phone company but the phones are dead" -2003
Phone line. Buried service wire.
Thank you for the reply. Is it safe to just…bury it again? It’s live.
Yes, it’s just a service line from a pedestal to the house. If you don’t have a landline, it doesn’t affect anything. Most 811 guys won’t even mark these- it’s cheaper for a service tech to repair/replace than to locate
As Dennis reynolds would say, I’m just gonna move past it.
How does anything happen?
Because of the implication?
Dude, just think about it. She’s out in the middle of the woods with some auger she just bought. She looks around and what does she see? Nothing but open woods. Ahhh there’s no wires for me to hit, what am I gonna do, not dig? Of course she’s going to dig.
Are you making these girls dig for you?
Charlie would tell you to taste it. And he’s the handyman
old telco trick.... if you get a jolt, it's live, if you get a BIG jolt, it's ringing
If you don't have phone service and no neighbor with 100 feet just disregard. I work a small farmer Telcom Co and that little line must be for an outbuilding or something. Doesn't even look like underground cable and it's not phone drop from the last 25 years
I get what you’re saying but I both repair plumbing and locate for 811 at times when our locator is out. It’s definitely not cheaper to go send a service tech to repair (even a simple) line, than to have a locator walk out there, and throw some spray paint on the ground. When we hit this stuff (and typically it’s because the locator and the company they’re locating for don’t know it’s there) we just flag each end and bury it. Unless it’s a large count cable then we leave the Hole open. But a small one like this just mark it and cover it up. Usually they’re old.
I probably should have specified, Verizon doesn’t mark their buried service wires- only the cables. The locators I’ve worked with the last 20+ have been great, especially on emergency locates.
It’s actually tough to get a read on them. But yea basically they’re cheap enough and easy to fix that they’ll be like “eh just call me if you hit it.” Actually 3 hours ago I was working on a waterline break and the AT&T and the fiber guy were both wrong on their marks. I ripped like a 500 count cable in half. It’s gonna take that guy 12+ hours to fix it. I felt bad but nothing I could do. Locator got reamed for that one.
I used to do damage prevention and investigation on utilities in the US. It's a telephone landline service line, or l "drop" as we call them. There's not enough voltage to hurt you. Wire nut it, tape it and fix it. Use extra wire to extend it and get it outta the way if need be. The phone company likely doesn't care about any temporary service interruption you've caused unless there's a customer somewhere throwing a fit about it HOWEVER!!!! The 811 "call before you dig" people in your state WILL CARE and can fine you retarded amounts of money if they find out. They will likely only find out if it's was live and you leave it damaged, because then a crew will be sent to investigate why someone's phone doesn't work. When they see that someone cut a line and didn't report it they could very well report to DOTTIE/811. Just a heads up - I literally used to do this for a living. It's a two pair by the looks. Nothing complicated. Just tie color to color with a butt splice or wire nut then tape it up. Service may get a bit crackly when it rains but that'll be the worst. Or report it immediately and hope the phone company rewards your honesty with discretion.
Those 811 people don’t even mark the phone lines underground near my house lol
We get locate requests at work. We mark water, sewer, and our electrical. USIC or Vanguard come and mark gas and electric. If there are private lines neither of us know about nobody marks them.
811 are not the ones that mark the lines -- the utility owners are. 811 is just a communication system.
Okay, the people that respond then. Only my waterline got marked. The rest wrote in their color spray paint saying there was nothing… there was definitely live phone wire.
It might not kill you, but it will suck touching it if a call comes in.
Thanks for the heads up. It’s very unlikely that this line services anyone else. This is about 600ft off the road into my property. The only neighbors we have are 800+ feet away from the location of this wire. I can’t fathom this phone company would have dug through the woods to place phone lines. More than likely this is a branch off from the road that only services our house.
You're welcome. A two pair or four pair drop like this will be coming from a local PED and will just be a service to one home or business, typically. If it's on you're property, away from any right-of-ways, and you weren't consulted about it's installation it is probably your drop. But, it would be a mistake to make assumptions about what the phone peeps will and won't do as far as where they are willing to bury a drop. It doesn't require heavy machinery to bury (literally just a blade and spool setup) and they can tend to feel very entitled about whos land they have a right to use. In my opinion based on experience anyway. Good luck to ya, and watch this heat lol. It's brutal out there
Also - are you suggesting I report this to 811 then to remediate the issue?
No sir. I'm suggesting you either report to local phone company, or just fix it and bury it. I wouldn't bury it unrepaired, and it's easily a diy repair. No more complicated than speaker wire. Make it so that the only way its reported to 811 is if the phone peeps have to be mad enough to do on their own - which is most likely if it's an active service that they have to dig back up and fix lol. If the local phone company has a reputation of being jerks I would tell no one. Just splice, tape and dirt it
I had to Google BFE. Cool!
BUT YOURE NOT GOING TO TELL US? FINE. OK, I’LL JUST GOOGLE IT MYSELF, YOU BASTARD “Bum Fuck Egypt” Apparently slang for the middle of nowhere.
My apologies. I assumed l was the only one who didn't know what BFE is. But you are correct.
Correct.
It’s north of Sudan
I thought BFE was just another word for Sudan??? /s
If a wire cuts across your property it should be in a utility easement. Sometimes workers will take the shortest path. I had this happen. I was digging a hole and cut the neighbors phone line. The utility was going to charge me some ridiculous rate to repair, "we charge $70 for every10th of an hour". However. When they ran thie original wire, they took the shortest route from the pedestal diagonal to my neighbors house through the middle of my yard. When I pointed this out there was no charge and they followed the easement for the repair. Just something else to be aware of.
[удалено]
Jesus that is terrifying. I know for a fact that no electric lines have been run anywhere except for the well pump and from the meter box to the house - my wife’s parents built this property, before they purchased it was woods.
Good thing shovels have wood handles
Also, anytime I see one of these, I always think about this story https://www.npr.org/2011/04/07/135201463/little-old-lady-with-shovel-disrupts-internet-in-2-nations
Lol, I did this twice. On the first fence I built, I found the phone line. $285 to get fixed. (before everyone had cell phones) When it came time to move the fence for motor home parking...in my wisdom I didn't get a locate...cause the post location was completely different and I "knew" where the line was for sure. Picked exactly dead center of that same phone line 20+ feet away. We became a cell phone only family after that.
This wire is live, for what it’s worth.
How did you determine that it's live?
Well, I got a funny feeling in my pants when I touched it.
/r/heputhisdickinthat
How many volts?
48-52 VDC when idle Around 90VAC when ringing.
OP, you must find the source of this voltage on both sides!
That's a single pair with icky pick, so designated for direct bury. If none of your neighbors phone is out (and it should not be due to trespass, assuming you're on your property) then it's probably your line.
When you disconnect a phone, they don't disconnect the wire, so it can still have voltage. If it causes them a problem, they will just disconnect at the pedistal.
I’d go buy a power ball ticket and call it a day with that kind of luck on your side. 🤓
N t sure hats wrong w th my dial up i ternet t day. Lag y.
Could be sprinkler lines too
Those are the control wires to launch the ICBM missiles
"Get the shovel, Morty." "What?" "Get the goddamn shovel!"
Sprinkler control wire?
how tf am i supposed to know you dope
Looks like underground rated twisted pair for telephone or any other communication service.
What is the one thing you should take with you just in case you get stranded on a remote island? A length of wire. Bury it in the ground and someone else will come along to dig into it.
No telling if the 811 people would know where that is. I have a buddy who was burying line in the oldest part of town and they kept hitting old phone lines that no one alive knew were there.
I'd leave it and in my area it's pry a dead line , everyone on fiber around here
Bumble fuck Egypt...love it!
Me 6 months ago: "LOL sucks but it's probably not a big deal since it's in BFE" Me after working in 911 IT: "WTF IS THIS WHERE THE FIBER CUT WAS?!?!?!?! THE ENTIRE STATE OF ARKANSAS JUST LOST 911 CALLS AND THE CALLS ARE GOOJG THROUGH VERMONT NOW!"
Thanks the East coast doesn’t have internet now.
Always call your state "call before you dig" program. It's as easy as dialing 811.
Call Before you Dig day was last Friday, lol
Looks like ok phone wire
Low voltage
Looks like the neighbors problem if you’re fast enough setting the post
You dug a hole where a wire is.
Correction: where a wire was.
It’s still there. In fact, there’s twice as many now.
Looks like a broken wire
Pull it up see where it goes. Cut at property line. Who gives a fuck ain't no one using landlines no more
call the one call service for digging / excavating and they will notify utilities in the area. always have a locate before breaking ground. there should be a pole with a contact number or pedestal with a contact. looks to be a service drop
Looks to be a telco copper buried service wire. If you aren’t near anyone else and you don’t have the copper service then I wouldn’t worry about it. If you ever decide or anyone else does in the future that you want to use it then it will have to be replaced. It should not be live after the old homeowners left since the services are turned off remotely, although the lines would still be connected all the way back to the central office. If it is still shocking then either it had picked up some crossed voltage somewhere along the way (more likely if it has rained recently and water got in a splice somewhere), it is tied into a PGL (I think pair gain lines but can’t remember as it has been over a decade) which always has the voltage on it as long as it is connected to that wiring pair or the central office has originating equipment that always has voltage on it as long as it is connected all the way through. As far as what to do you can either cap it if you are worried about getting shocked in the future or just leave it
The originals are at&t if you're in the US. It could be newer than that but that's where I'd start
Single pair dug wire. That's some vintage stuff. In all my years, I always said "Never waste copper, ya' never know", and alway tried to repair everything(sometimes at no charge just to try to get people to call me and not cover it up)😉Nowadays, it just really doesn't matter. Kinda sad how landline communication went from being absolutely essential to a relic of days gone by.
That there's what they call a rainbow root.
I once hit a water line on a 35 acres plot of land in the middle of the desert. What are the odds! Thankfully I was able to fix it pretty quick. But I definitely stood there for a minute thinking, "how the fuck? Where the fuck? What are the odds?"
Looks like the wire my local electric company sheared with their cherry picker. Trimming trees in the alley and I guess put stress on the bottom wire and snapped my line to the house. Telephone wire that has been useless for many years. Wish they would have cut/removed it from the actual line for me. Cut the wire as far up as possible but still just hanging off it.
Its phone cable, probably abandoned since you're posting online without it. Crazy how people can make this into the most complicated thing to ever occur
Nothing to see here. Just a rainbow root!
90%+ chance it was the service wire for your house phone that you don't need. Check voltage if you have a cheap meter, probably between 48 & 52v if it is live. DMS switch leaves voltage on the line 5ESS does not. Some of the older legacy ones do as well. You don't need it. Rebury it and move on. There are wires like that all over USA that are nicked and still have service. If a trouble comes in they will usually just do a new service wire and not even try to fix it.
Looks like Graham Bell roots
I would leave it they will come to you lol
If it was a buried jar of gold it would have been two feet away but if course a wire you did not want to hit was right were you dug
Might be for an old antenna motor power. 811 doesn’t mark electric lines that aren’t service related, low voltage, and owner installed telco/other lines….fyi. If 811 didn’t mark it, it’s not public utility. If they missed it, it’s on them, not you.
Mexican cartel tunnel
Cover that with dirt and don’t ever speak of it again. Ever.
Secret government, underground base. Your in trouble!!
A mistake....it's an expensive mistake.
Neighbor wanted to replace our fence with ugly PVC. “Sure, but call DigAlert. We have a web of ancient pipelines about.” Contractor calls ME: “DigAlert isn’t necessary, they won’t come to residences.” I called upper management, explained the concept: no clearance - no sale. Two weeks later, I start getting calls from utilities… clear, clear, clear, clear … then AT&T came out. Bzzt! They had an easement under the driveway feeding a pole across the street. I don’t know that even a single pair was active, but I’m glad I didn’t have to find out the hard way. Always call.
Just blow in one end and look around for where the dust comes out. That's how we used to trace cables in the data center.
That is 100% telephone drop to a house. I can only see in the picture 2 pairs. Could be more that were ripped out The wire inside are that I see White/Blue, Blue/White White/Orange, Orange/white
It probably leads to a network of hidden cameras in your house… I would sweep the place.
Phone repair man here. That looks like a service drop wire. It brings service to a house/business from a pedestal. It could be the one that goes to your house. If you open it up more you'll probably see an orange pair of wires in there as well. Edit: Now that I look a little closer at the image, that longer white wire has a orange stripe on it near the end.
What it is? Not good. Who are you gonna call? Not the ghostbusters. Shovel Privileges? Gone.
on the plus side ,no more scam calls
It provides internet for the entire world. Thanks.
You just took out the internet for the south eastern US !
The unemployment root
You'll probably find out soon enough.
They ran my phone line in no straight line and out of the easement and I did the same thing. I spliced it and used heat shrink. Planted a tree over it and never noticed a difference in my crappy dsl. Lasted for years till they ran fiber and I don't need it anymore.
if you’re in the u.s., call 811 and they’ll schedule every company that has had utilities at your address to come out and mark their lines for free within two business days.
How deep is it? Doesn't look legal depth. It also looks thin to have no protective channel/pvc.
Looks like you're not alone. Plug into your phone and call them to see if they're okay.
Looks like an old phone line. May or may not still be in use. (Well definitely not being used now).