Fiber cut - response in seconds?

Mon Jun 1 23:51:11 UTC 2009

In a message written on Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 03:40:31PM -0700, Charles Wyble wrote:
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/30/AR2009053002114_pf.html
> 
> Not sure if I fully believe the article. Responding to a fiber cut in 
> seconds?

Folks who dig call "Miss Utility" (in Virginia, anyway) befor they
dig to have folks come out and spray paint where everything is
lcoated.  On the back end, folks with cables in the ground subscribe
to a feed of address information to know if they should go out and
mark cables.

I have no doubt the men in black SUV's have a feed of this data,
and thus know when someone is going to be digging near their cable.
Indeed, I can think of at least two instances where I was out
surveying fiber digs where black SUV's seemed to be across the
street the entire time.

With the location having features like a metro tunnel under a US
Army "classified" microwave tower it would not surprise me that
they have someone in the area watching.

I suspect they were waiting nearby, and when it went down went in
not to tell folks they cut something, but rather to tell them that
they cut nothing.  Wink wink.  Nudge nudge.

-- 
       Leo Bicknell - bicknell at ufp.org - CCIE 3440
        PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/
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