Comment posted What’s a fibreoptic cable doing lying on a beach anyway? by Lundavra.
You get what you pay for, if you buy a telephone line then that is what you get. If you need resilience then you install a system with an independent backup connection, perhaps a small mobile phone module built into the unit.
Many commercial systems specify two independent circuits that never come near each other even when they enter the user’s premises. But it costs a lot more.
Recent comments by Lundavra
- First Minister’s choice not to condemn mob behaviour proves Farage point
I wonder what would happen if the taxi drivers refused to carry a black, Muslim, homosexual etc passenger.Compare the fuss there was when London Underground refused to accept Scottish pound notes last year. Big outcry in some of the Scottish press though all sorted out by Boris Johnson very quickly.
I am surprised that Edinburgh allows their taxi drivers to discriminate against passengers on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality or politics.
- First Minister’s choice not to condemn mob behaviour proves Farage point
Salmond has previous condemned anti-English behaviour by quite small groups, usually football supporters but I have heard him speak out previous when there has been racist behaviour by groups of people in Scotland. - First Minister’s choice not to condemn mob behaviour proves Farage point
So you can only have a conversation with a group of people in a pub if you reserve a private room? Otherwise it is perfectly acceptable for a mob to come in a shout down your conversation. - First Minister’s choice not to condemn mob behaviour proves Farage point
So it is acceptable to prevent someone speaking and shout them down, provided you call them a ‘racist’. That word gets bandied around far too much and often by people who could be described themselves as racist.Don’t forget that Farage is married to a foreign national yet gets accused of being racist and hating foreigners.
- First Minister’s choice not to condemn mob behaviour proves Farage point
I was surprised at Wee Eck’s response, he is usually very careful to disassociate himself from any partisan anti-English actions of others.Also odd that whoever organised the attack on Farage did so when he was having a drink with journalists so ensuring that it got widespread coverage.
BBC Glasgow did not come out very well by seemingly concentrating on UKIP rather than a racist mob attacking a politician in the Scottish capital and preventing free speech then this not being condemned by the First Minister.
powered by SEO Super Comments
BT are not the sharpest knife in the block!
When my local area had telephone cable taken from each pole and laid in the ditch, they simply left large sections on the surface, despite being informed of this nothing happened……that is until ditch renovation was routinely carried out and a flayer was used to cut back brambles etc…..I think you can see where I’m going! Result a chewed cable, no phones and two services namely council and BT blaming each other. So, your story does not surprise me in the slightest.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
As I understand it the cable was buried and the thieves were attempting to dig it up – it was not ‘lying on a beach’.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The visual evidence of the television footage – with the camera resting on the image of the cut section and the rest of the cable – showed a long continuation of the cable lying on the surface of the beach and vanishing into the tide, with absolutely no trace of its having been dug up anywhere along that length. There was, for example, no visible disturbance to the seaweed, which is easy to spot. I paid particular attention to what was shown – LOOKING for something suggesting it had been dug up. There was nothing, and the reporter’s commentary made no reference to digging up or uncovering the cable in any way.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
100% correct Newsroom
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Ah. Don’t forget BT have been using special ‘self burying’ cable for many years. For ages there was a large loop of the main cable to the village lying on my beach. It disappeared several years ago.
It must have buried itself as the phones still work.
Perhaps BT need to concentrate on developing a ‘high speed’ self burying cable that wouldn’t be noticeable for quite so long.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
2 things to point out are that, fiber optic cable is very expensive so has to be burried under the sea rather than round land due to cost and logistics (they are burried under the sea all over the world). Secondly, when this cable is installed it is burried under the sea bed but over time the tides and power of the sea will uncover sections. This cable is very tough and will withstand the power of nature but it will not, however, withstand the power of a chainsaw, heavy duty cable cutters or whatever other weapons these thieves decide to use.
Phone companies spend many £millions every year to combat cable theft and this is now a real problem. More help is needed from local communities and the police to help find these people who are undoubtedly putting real lives at risk
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Wrong! see 2 above, and do you realise how deep the oceans are? Cables are not buried under the sea or loch bed, but the point where they are most vulnerable is on the surface before entering the water (fresh or salt). There perhaps they should be fed through buried (metal) duct or duct embedded in concrete.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I am concerned that given the importance of this cable, and the fact that it linked in the personal alarm call systems for over 200 vunerable elderly folks, that there was no back up system. Even a well buried cable can be the target of thieves..in this case dumb ones, so if vital services are at risk a surely it would make sense to have a more robust back up system…there are a lot of remote homes in this area.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
You get what you pay for, if you buy a telephone line then that is what you get. If you need resilience then you install a system with an independent backup connection, perhaps a small mobile phone module built into the unit.
Many commercial systems specify two independent circuits that never come near each other even when they enter the user’s premises. But it costs a lot more.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
In fairness to BT, there are virtually NO BEACHES on Loch Carron. It appears this cable was on the Stromeferry side of the loch. It could be accessed by parking in a passing place, crossing a fence, crossing the rail line, crossing another fence, then making your way down the rocks to the rocky shoreline.
That side of the loch is effectively inaccessible and the picture being painted of a cable lying around on a sandy beach is wrong.
Interestingly, the damage did not effect landline telephone services locally. It did stuff the internet and mobile phones. (except Orange)
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
This is a useful picture in terms of accessibility – but the cable was still lying on the beach. That has to be mmethod is wildly disproportionate to the value of the infrastructure and the business and personal services it supports.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Have you asked BT to comment on this? I for one would be interested to hear their reply.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0