atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Outside Plant OSP Construction Dropped Drops.

Was out walking not too far from home when I saw a street was partially blocked off. As I approached I noticed that an overhead Verizon cable had been snagged.

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I think you can see the pairs in the first picture. Verizon was on the scene when I was walking back home.

Yeah, around here if it was just in front of the house and not blocking traffic they would just tie some yellow caution tape on it and fix it maybe next year. In the street like that they would just tie a rope to it tied to anything above to get it high enough so traffic can pass. Hey, we're busy you know.

-Hal

Kinda looks like a new cable will need to be run from the splice to the mid-point then across the street to the building.

Search for 6 Mill Street Arlington Mass to see the before picture.

The image from Google Earth street view makes it look like the drops is an accident waiting to drop...so much so that apparently Telco has a bucket truck just circling the block waiting.

Verizon was parked and waiting in the last picture. Not sure if the truck in this photo is Verizon.

Verizon repaired the drops. They look to be about the same height as before. Interesting side note: I picked up some discarded wires up off the ground below the repairs. Looking at the wires, I see a few solid white and some solid colors. I can't discern stripes on any of the pieces. Is that common....to have solid color tips & solid color rings?

I remember the first time I opened a piece of cable and found all solid colors. Somewhat terrifying. Yeah it was common. If the pairs aren't twisted together well you're in deep trouble. When you open the cable the first thing you have to do is tape off the end. Then strip off enough insulation to give yourself plenty of room to work with and trace. Then you identify the binders. Tape them off individually and mark them. When you've got all that done, THEN you can start working.

Sam

Most GTE* Telco drops around here were solid White and solid Orange.








*Great Telephone Experiment

I suspect that things would have been so much easier had the cable manufacturers marked OSP copper insulation in a similar fashion as inside copper. Although having seen the insulation on some CAT5 and higher cables....the blue & green pairs as well as the orange and brown pairs look very similar.

The worse I ever used was the old translucent jacketed Category 3 Teflon...smeared colors and had more kinks than Pee Wee Herman.