5 ms·

It's really expensive, time consuming, and those wires are still susceptible to backhoes.

by js2 7y ago

darkpuma 7y ago
It's not just the upfront cost either, but once you bury the cables all future cable upgrades and replacements will be more expensive too. Burying cables nevertheless makes sense in some places, particularly dense areas. For areas with low population density (most of the land mass of the US for instance) it's totally cost prohibitive.
AWildC182 7y ago
I think the joke goes: What three things would you bring with you if you were stuck on a deserted island? A length of fiber, a shovel, and a margarita. Bury the fiber and drink the margarita while briefly waiting for a backhoe to come dig up the fiber.
mcv 7y ago
You need to make sure backhoes know where the cables are. It works very well in Netherland. Except for high voltage long distance power, everything goes underground. Although in urban areas, I'd expect it to make more sense to have spacious tubes underground through which all the cables are easily pulled, so you don't have to dig everything up all the time. Maybe they already do that; I'm not sure.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  Does the Netherlands have a system for mandatory conduit sharing?
  - mcv 7y ago
    I honestly have no idea. We might. There's very likely to be tons of regulation around it to make everything as safe and practical as possible for everybody.
chrisseaton 7y ago
You must already have conduit underground. You aren’t running water and sewerage on elevated lines are you, unless you’re very rural.
tzs 7y ago
Backhoes cause damage in a small area, and generally it should be possible to notify the cable owner and for them to get a repair crew dispatched quickly. A big storm can take out overhead cables in hundreds of places in a short time. It can take a day or more to even find all the damage, and you can have a lot more places that need repair than you have repair crews, so it can take days for some places to even get a repair crew on site. Also, a storm that takes out overhead fiber or other telecom cables often also takes out power. I believe that in many areas the services that own non-power cables that share poles with power cables are not allows to touch anything on the pole until the power company restores power. That can further slow down scheduling telecom repairs.
thrownaway954 7y ago
you are a moron if you are digging and haven't got the proper permits and surveys done. yes... accidents do happen but can mostly be avoided. but, i guarantee that someone digging up a line with a backhoe happens ALOT less frequent then some idiot in a car taking out a phone-pole.
- serf 7y ago
  >i guarantee that someone digging up a line with a backhoe happens ALOT less frequent then some idiot in a car taking out a phone-pole. yeah, but can you guarantee that the repair costs total of the more frequently repaired option is greater than the repair costs total of the less frequently repaired option? repair frequency is only a single metric -- what if the frequency was low but the cost to repair was 20x?

It's really expensive, time consuming, and those wires are still susceptible to backhoes.

by js2 7y ago

It's really expensive, time consuming, and those wires are still susceptible to backhoes.

It's not just the upfront cost either, but once you bury the cables all future cable upgrades and replacements will be more expensive too. Burying cables nevertheless makes sense in some places, particularly dense areas. For areas with low population density (most of the land mass of the US for instance) it's totally cost prohibitive.

AWildC182 7y ago

I think the joke goes: What three things would you bring with you if you were stuck on a deserted island? A length of fiber, a shovel, and a margarita. Bury the fiber and drink the margarita while briefly waiting for a backhoe to come dig up the fiber.

mcv 7y ago

You need to make sure backhoes know where the cables are. It works very well in Netherland. Except for high voltage long distance power, everything goes underground. Although in urban areas, I'd expect it to make more sense to have spacious tubes underground through which all the cables are easily pulled, so you don't have to dig everything up all the time. Maybe they already do that; I'm not sure.

Scoundreller 7y ago
Does the Netherlands have a system for mandatory conduit sharing?
- mcv 7y ago
  I honestly have no idea. We might. There's very likely to be tons of regulation around it to make everything as safe and practical as possible for everybody.

chrisseaton 7y ago

You must already have conduit underground. You aren’t running water and sewerage on elevated lines are you, unless you’re very rural.

tzs 7y ago

Backhoes cause damage in a small area, and generally it should be possible to notify the cable owner and for them to get a repair crew dispatched quickly. A big storm can take out overhead cables in hundreds of places in a short time. It can take a day or more to even find all the damage, and you can have a lot more places that need repair than you have repair crews, so it can take days for some places to even get a repair crew on site. Also, a storm that takes out overhead fiber or other telecom cables often also takes out power. I believe that in many areas the services that own non-power cables that share poles with power cables are not allows to touch anything on the pole until the power company restores power. That can further slow down scheduling telecom repairs.

thrownaway954 7y ago

you are a moron if you are digging and haven't got the proper permits and surveys done. yes... accidents do happen but can mostly be avoided. but, i guarantee that someone digging up a line with a backhoe happens ALOT less frequent then some idiot in a car taking out a phone-pole.

serf 7y ago
>i guarantee that someone digging up a line with a backhoe happens ALOT less frequent then some idiot in a car taking out a phone-pole. yeah, but can you guarantee that the repair costs total of the more frequently repaired option is greater than the repair costs total of the less frequently repaired option? repair frequency is only a single metric -- what if the frequency was low but the cost to repair was 20x?