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Neighbor's contracter cut my phone line

Is soldering and taping good enough for an outdoor phone line repair?

Or should I have the phone company come and do it according to their standards?

The neighbor's contracter was working right at the property line and cut my phone line. I found him with the 4 wires stripped from each end, and he was wrapping the wires together, and going to use wire nuts and electrical tape.

I stopped him and soldered the connections, used his wire nuts for some reason, and then used stretch tape (I think it is called silicon tape) which normally gives a much better seal, afaict. But I don't really know how long the tape lasts. The splice is two inches above the dirt, and would look better covered with dirt (which I guess they didn't do, because I had complained that just wrapping the wires isn't good enough for an underground connection.)

The neighbor himself suggested I call the phone company, and that he would pay. The woman at the repair office won't tell me how much they charge for this until the repairman comes out. The woman admitted a lot of people don't call them, of course.

I don't want the neighbor to pay if my repair is good enough, but if I don't get him to pay now, when it breaks later, the contractor will be long gone, and maybe my neighbor too. And I'll have to pay.

(The contractors didn't cut a buried wire. They knew the wire was there and one was holding it out of the way, while the other used a 4- or 5-foot rod to jab at the cement left in the ground from a fence post. He hit it several times before he cut the wire. :) ) They should have used a rod that they held in place, and hit it with a sledge or something, instead of moving the hole 5 foot pole, right?

(FWIW, they also didn't tell me they had cut my line, didn't apologize when I found out, didn't tell me they were going to "fix" it or when, and I was going to call the phone company when I went outside again to do a temporary repair, and saw that they had started their repair. I don't think they planned to tell me at all that they had cut it.)

Thanks.

Meirman

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Reply to
meirman
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Hi...

Get it properly repaired (and buried) by the phone company.

Leaving it as it is you're just begging for trouble.

Taped up it's just a matter of time until it's wet, noisy, and telling the central office your phone is busy (when it's not)

Leaving it strung across the surface it's just a matter of time until kids or dogs accidentally break it, or small animals chew it.

Either will happen when most you need it - for an ambulance, or a policeman, or when the youngsters are trying to call home.

Get it properly repaired.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Definitely not.

Yes. They have the tools, the correct type of splicing connectors, and the skill to use them all together.

Your neighbor's contractor should be made to cover the cost of the repairs.

Keep the peace(es).

Reply to
Dr. Anton Squeegee

yikes-e-do Another person who cannot figure out the right way to correct a problem. Call the Phone Company. Simple EH!

kip

Reply to
kip

Your neighbor and his contractor are both a couple of tards. You need to call the phone company. and the contractor who did the damage will be liable. and the phone company will collect. if you leave that half ass repair job you are risking your phone not working properly, not to mention possible cusing interference for others who share that same cable and/or box where the wires are.

dont be a n00b. call the phone company. your neighbor needs to own up to his contractors screw up

Reply to
Heavy G

In sci.electronics.repair on Sun, 21 Aug 2005 03:40:25 GMT Ken Weitzel posted:

I forgot to mention that I also use it for dial-up computer access!

Although my dial-up connection speed has varied quite a bit, in about

15 connections since then, it has never gotten the speed it used to get often. At least 13K short. More I think on most occasions, but if I have enough time, I'll have more data.

I know with cable TV a bad connection can cause reflections. Do you think a solder joint that is thicker than the original wire was, or more or less conductive than the original wire, can cause a reflection or some other phenomenon, that would decrease dial-up speed, even this week when the connection is as good as it will ever be.

Now, I'm not sure that any repair they can do will leave me in as good as a situation as I was last Sunday.

But you've convinced me that it would be better than what I did.

IIUC, cable TV reflections are maybe like splicing a heavy rope to a string or light rope, and then shaking the light rope, I think it is. You'll see a wave go down the light rope until the splice and then part of the wave will continue onto the heavy rope, and part will reflect back on the light rope. Bad connections and maybe failutre to use a terminal connector where one should will cause ghosts with cable tv iiuc. Would this be the same thing?

FTR, it was underground until it got to our little front patios (we are in adjacent townhouses.) Then it came out of the ground and 7 feet across the cement to the house. So now 7 feet 6 inches are out of the ground. Only another 6 inches could be covered with dirt, before it has to go above the cement.

Thanks a lot to you and Anton and kip.

Meirman

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Reply to
meirman

If you do a good solder joint, that's the best connection possible. The problem that remains is whether you can keep water out of the connections. A bit of moisture in there can make a high resistance short between the conductors and lead to noise on the line and slow down your dial-up connection.

These frequencies are much too slow to have to worry about a good impedance match at the splice. Whatever the phone company would do would be much worse.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

Hi Jim...

Betcha a dollar against a stale donut that you can't find any phone company anywhere that wouldn't replace the entire cable intact from their drop to the service entrance block inside the house.

Betcha a million against the same donut that they wouldn't leave an inch of it lying exposed on the ground. Just imagine their liability if it was soaked, or broken, when the need arose for an ambulance, cop, or fire truck!

Not to mention the mailman tripping on it and suing a la "McDonalds too hot coffee" kinda thing.

It is, after all, their cable, not the OP's.

Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Call the phone company. I once dug up two 5-pair cables (on the property I was living on; they had a lot of phone lines) with a trencher. I went as far as figuring out which end was which, then called the phone company. The lineman came out and used gel-filled insulation displacement splices (the little colored buttons about 10 mm or 3/8" diameter) to do each individual wire. Then, he bundled up the splices from each cable and put them in a thing that looked like a toothpaste tube of silicone sealant with the end cut off. He advised me to wait a little while for the sealant to set, then bury the wires and splices again and forget about it. The phone lines were fine for the next couple of years that I lived there.

Matt Roberds

Reply to
mroberds

In sci.electronics.repair on Mon, 22 Aug 2005 05:35:53 GMT snipped-for-privacy@worldnet.att.net posted:

I don't have any of those!

I don't have any of those!

I can wait. I can do that part.

I'm convinced. Thanks.

Meirman

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Reply to
meirman

I hit the phone wire coming in near the foundation not knowing it was there behind weeds . It broke a couple wires .

I soldered them and applied a pretty big gob of silicone glue and all has been fine for years .

Reply to
Ken G.

My impression from the OP was that this occured at the point where the line went underground. For an above-ground line I'd agree with you, but for a buried line my bet is that they'd splice it.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

Just have the phone guy come out and fix it, it'll be as good as new. This stuff is not nearly as critical as RF, but it does require a good watertight splice. If I'd cut my own line I'd fix it myself, but in this case it's not your dime so just have them take care of it.

Reply to
James Sweet

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