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Author Topic: "Squashed" BT Joint Box  (Read 3509 times)

aesmith

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"Squashed" BT Joint Box
« on: December 26, 2015, 11:34:24 AM »

Hi,

I was actually checking drainage this morning, and I found one the many many joints on our phone line lying squashed and in the bottom of the ditch, soaking wet.  It was wrapped in a polythene bag but that was shredded and there are little wire clips and plastic parts lying loose.  I don't know if this could be relevant to our line fault (noise) but it's clearly not ideal.   That line lies on what used to be the verge between track and arable land, so it's alway being driven over or ploughed through, but for some reason BT seems to prefer a call out three of four times a year rather than protecting the cable.  Unfortunately every time it's the cable that's damaged it means yet another joint, for example we have four along the S of our property in the space of around 30 yards.
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Weaver

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Re: "Squashed" BT Joint Box
« Reply #1 on: December 26, 2015, 01:41:03 PM »

I used to have a similar situation where a (once) insulated cable was lying across a piece of rough stony ground where vehicles were constantly driving over. It took several years for BT to sort it out and come round and bury the cable as it should have been.
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aesmith

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Re: "Squashed" BT Joint Box
« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2015, 05:10:36 PM »

Fixed already by Openreach, within about 2 hours of my report.  The guy said he was assigned to a fault, but redirected to deal with the "damage" report.
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Weaver

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Re: "Squashed" BT Joint Box
« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2015, 10:16:39 PM »

In that case BT are to be commended for coming out so soon
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aesmith

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Re: "Squashed" BT Joint Box
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2015, 05:00:34 PM »

Indeed, although it's a bit odd that a non service affecting and non hazardous issue should take priority over an actual fault.   I think this is a case of OR classing any form of damage as a safety issue.   However the lesson is that next time our line gets cut or ploughed through I'll report this direct to OR as damage (maybe as well as reporting the fault to my provider).
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Black Sheep

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Re: "Squashed" BT Joint Box
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2015, 05:25:57 PM »

Damage/Safety tasks get the highest priority, with a 'Must attend by' time of (from memory) ..... two hours. This may have changed ??.
Our manual 'Controllers' will start ringing around the engineers the minute one drops onto their terminals, and/or send out a communal text message to the engineers in the reported area.

A couple of things to consider though are, if it is a 'Damage report', the job of the first engineer to site is purely to make the area safe. For example, if it's a dropwire (A wire from pole to pole, or pole to house) reported as 'Brought down' ....... then all we will do is cut and clear the wire. The EU will still have to report the fault to their ISP.

The job you mention here could have been similar ?? They may well have despatched a CAL/OMI skilled engineer (Not someone who works on cable joints), to make the area safe ........ you have landed lucky in that the relevant skilled engineer arrived, and seeing as it was probably a 10 minute job, decided to do the repair whilst 'on' the damage task.

There are too many scenario's to run through to give a definitive 'Which way is best to report a fault' ......... for example, the exposed joint may well have not been where the actual fault was. looking at your photo, there was a damned good chance though.  ;) :) :)
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: "Squashed" BT Joint Box
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2015, 06:44:54 PM »

I once had to report a line, feeding an unnocupied property from a pole on my land, that had been brought down.   My line was not affected and somebody had already coiled up the cables on the verge, but it still presented a hazard IMO, at least for tripping pedestrians.

The response was PDQ, as BS suggests.   Chatting to the engineer, he suggested 'my'  fault was just one of several, tracking a few miles along the road in either direction.   The suggestion being, somebody had recently driven along in a vehicle that was of slightly excessive height.   In the absence of low bridges, I suppose BT lines are the next thing that catches them out.    :)
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aesmith

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Re: "Squashed" BT Joint Box
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2015, 07:44:36 PM »

Damage/Safety tasks get the highest priority, with a 'Must attend by' time of (from memory) ..... two hours. This may have changed ??.

That could be correct in terms of timing.  The engineer attending had been redirected while on the way to a fault that he said he'd "downloaded".
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