US hunters shoot down Google fibre

Tue Sep 21 18:02:52 UTC 2010

On 9/21/2010 10:52, Holmes,David A wrote:
> Modern telephone pole aerial fiber uses all dialectric self-supporting
> (ADSS) technology, where the self-supporting component consists
> primarily of aramid yarn, the same material used for bullet-proof vests.
> This makes for an extremely light weight, almost indestructible fiber
> bundle. My guess is that ADSS fiber would deflect any bullets, or it
> would take a very good marksman using a very high caliber weapon to
> actually sever an aerial fiber. 
> 
> Now in the case described below where optical ground wire (OPGW) fiber
> is used as a component in the ground wire running at the top of high
> voltage transmission towers, it may be possible to hit the insulators at
> the top of the towers, but the ground wire itself is usually armored,
> with ADSS inside. Seems far-fetched to me.    
> 

Back in my ISP days it was more common for people to take pot shots at
remote equipment cabinets than the cable/fiber itself. Any field
enclosure is as easy a target as your average bullet-ridden road sign.
Although this was extremely rare; I can only recall one instance where
it was the direct cause of an outage.

~Seth