Behind my house, on a large hill are two poles. One pole carries the electrical cable and the cable-modem/tv cables. The other (smaller) pole carry the phone lines. Both started leaning this summer and the wires that go to my house (and my neighbor’s) are now hanging about 7 feet above the ground. I can reach up and touch 'em. The power line is also tangled up with the phone line, 'cause there’s so much slack.
The way the two poles are leaning is like this:
Power–> // <–phone
The phone company (rightly) can’t/won’t fix their pole because A) they can’t straighten out their pole until the power company fixes theirs (the power company’s pole is in the way) and B) They don’t wanna fuck around with their wires when they’re tangled with the power companies’ (and I don’t blame 'em).
The power company, however, point blank refuses to go out and fix their pole until the phone company fixes theirs. They say that if they straighten up their pole, they’ll pull the phone company’s wires out of my house, ignoring the fact that it’s on a seperate pole (which, “by law” :rolleyes: they can’t touch). But, even though I’ve got electrical wires laying across a lattice patio roof (imagine a horizontal trellis), it’s “No big deal 'cause the pole is in no danger of falling and it’s no biggie to have wires laying on your roof.” (???!!! :eek: ) And I’ve been told this by half-a-dozen people, so it’s not just one idiot.
I’ve called, I’ve yelled, I’ve written letters. Nothing. I’m ->[sub][sub]thisclose[/sub][/sub]<-- from yanking the fucking wires out and saying “I’m without power. Now fix it, dammit.”
I’m being bounced back and forth between the two companies and I’m getting nowhere and, short of going to their offices and taking hostages, I’m not sure where to go next, but I wanted to vent. Dammit.
What’s really gonna be fun is this winter, when one of the lines comes down and the pole is unclimbable (because it’s leaning so steeply) and they’ll have to try to put in the pole in a blizzard.
Yes I mean it, but don’t try this without a working understanding of electricity. Honestly, unless you want to deal with the local PUC, this would be the only way to go(obviously the PUC is the ONLY safe and legal way to deal with this).
P.S.- they won’t “put in” the pole in a blizzard. They’ll simply wait until the inclement weather passes…
Good work my molemen, you have undermined the utility poles with perfect precision. And they said your breeding and training program would never pay off.
Yup. We’ve got a local “watchdog” named Tom Martino (“The TROUBLESHOOTER!” who’s apparently gone national) who loves stuff like this.
That’s the next step. I just got a callback from someone (apparently sane) from the Phone Company who says he’s trying to get his contacts at the Power Company and see if he can straighten this out with them.
If that doesn’t work, I’m goin’ public.
As for ripping out/cutting the wires, I’m not gonna. 1) I don’t wanna die. 2) I have a suspicion that somehow they’d figure it out and pin the blame for the whole situation on me (including the fact that the poles are at a 10[sup]o[/sup] angle) instead of Scylla where it belongs, and arrest me or something.
Eh, the whole story is a Freudian quagmire anyway. Poles, hard places, cutting the cord, Scylla, hills, phone company employees. It just goes on and on.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go stroke my penis. I mean, work.
Better yet, find a large fallen branch, pull whichever wire you prefer to the ground, lay the branch across it, make the call.
If you can wait for a windy day, all the better, find the branch ahead of time and try to do it early in the week. Or on the weekend so it’s done promptly as emergency work.
SpectBrain is right. . . There are people who work for municipal, county and state governments that look out for public safety stuff. Think of it this way, if those lines come down, it’s not going to be a pain in the ass to yourself, it’s going to be a public danger (as if live powerlines on the ground were something to play with).
I would say that your town has a “city engineer”. Call your town and get ahold of 'em first. Have them come out and inspect it. If they won’t, there are local code inspectors that will come out and ensure the power lines are within code. If not, a good letter to someone stating that “live primary electrical distribution lines are about to fall off the pole” should light a fire under someone’s ass.
Tripler
And I’m serious, quote me on that particular phrasing.
The wire is catching on your roofing nails! Can’t you see it? But since it’s not a problem, you’re just going up there with an aluminum ladder and a hammer to sort things out, just call 'em first to let 'em know…
OTOH, if all you said is “no big deal”, that might not be enough to convince them…
Could the phone company disconnect the wires at both ends and then the electric company could disentangle them?
No, thought not.
Seriously, EEK! Surely someone should have a responsibility here. I mean, it can’t be good for anyone when something goes wrong, if there’s even a chance of sending I-don’t-know-how-many-volts down a phone line!
Call them and tell them you’ve grown to love the quirkyness of the leaning poles and that they in fact are now perfectly alligned to act as a giant sundial, which the entire neighborhood desperately needs since everyone on your street’s watch is broken. Ask if it’s alright to cement them permanently in place for the betterment not just of your community, but of mankind.
Why don’t you just eat the sun and start Ragnarok, that show 'em.
Seriusly though I had a similar problem once. I finally just called a Jack of all trades guy(i.e… cheap unregisitered electriction) who climbed the pole and cut all the wires for 20 bucks.
I had a problem with the electrical wires going into the back of my house from the pole. A tree had rubbed the insulation off, and one leg was evidently going thru the tree and then to my house. The lights would work, but the AC wouldn’t run. All of this came to a head during a pretty good thunder storm.
I called the electric company and told them that the electricity in part of my house didn’t work. They said tough, call an electrician. So I went poking around the breaker box outside with a flashlight and saw that, although I was still using some electricity, the meter wasn’t turning.
So I called them back, they had a guy up a ladder, in my tree, fixing the wire, in less than an hour.
If I were Fenris, I’d pull the telephone pole over. Not much danger in a phone cable. Then the elctricity people could fix their pole, followed by the phone company.
But getting the Consumer Advocate reporter over to have a look at the utilities expense sure sounds like fun!!
named Tom Martino (“The TROUBLESHOOTER!” who’s apparently gone national) who loves stuff like this.