14-Feb-2012 12:25
Cable thieves Create BT Outage – Again!
Some Hertfordshire-based BT business & residential clients suffered annoying outages, once again, late last week following further thefts of & damage to underground telecoms cabling.
Even more annoyingly, BT’s responses and customer service advice or explanations to enquiring clients has sadly been less than coherent.
One business client complained bitterly that his business was without broadband and phone lines for nearly two days & he received very little help or advice.
According to local news reports, the local police, the Hertfordshire Constabulary's control room, was also hit by the outages.
Police officers were apparently forced to use backup services whilst BT engineers struggled to reconfigure the cabling.
A BT spokesman responded late on Friday evening & said, “BT have suffered cuts to underground cabling in an apparent attempted cable theft which is affecting some services in the area at the moment. Engineers have been onsite and are urgently working in very difficult conditions to assess the damage and to start to work on repairs. We are doing all we can to get this work completed to start to restore service as quickly as we possibly can."
It is understood that the problem was resolved by midday on Saturday.
The burning question of course is simply; what can be done to halt this damage and continued theft to the telecoms infrastructure?
With copper and other metal prices currently so high, there is continued incentive for thieves to target the cabling.
Perhaps the police should target the unscrupulous metal traders offering spot-cash to these crooks or…?
Answers on a postcard.
The gangs used to call 'em "Lookouts"
Travel on the line as I do and you wonder at the stupidity of the thieves, but one thing is clear.
replacing copper with glass makes no discernible difference to the disruption.
A symptom of our own economic crisis perhaps?
value of recycled glass anyone??
Ban scrapyards from dealing in cash.
Traceable payments = risk of getting nicked. And better tax collections, as a side benefit.
But, apparently, it would only push the cash trade underground
Surely if you stop the legit scrapyards (the reactionary in me questions whether there is such a thing) taking cash, you reduce the market for dodgy metals, thus less cable theft.