Backhoes surround AT&T office in Arlington VA
The AT&T toll office in Arlington VA is surrounded by a half-dozen backhoes (2 in front, more in the side-street around the corner). Instead of the usual "call before you dig" markings, they had full crew of professional surveyors marking a grid and repair trucks from multiple telco/carriers standing by. A lot of "suit & tie" folks on-site too. Probability before I lose some service? https://www[.]donelan[.]com/pictures/
The suit&tie managers and repair crews are gone. Just fresh orange call-before-you-dig marks on pavement and three people for each of the six backhoes (one operator and two watchers for each backhoe). https://www[.]donelan[.]com/pictures/ On Sat, 21 Feb 2026, Sean Donelan via NANOG wrote:
The AT&T toll office in Arlington VA is surrounded by a half-dozen backhoes (2 in front, more in the side-street around the corner). Instead of the usual "call before you dig" markings, they had full crew of professional surveyors marking a grid and repair trucks from multiple telco/carriers standing by.
A lot of "suit & tie" folks on-site too.
Probability before I lose some service?
https://www[.]donelan[.]com/pictures/
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Doh, was going to say can you ask them if they have any 5ESS hardware they don't want anymore? I want to rescue a minimum config one for home before they get scrapped.
The suit&tie managers and repair crews are gone. Just fresh orange call-before-you-dig marks on pavement and three people for each of the six backhoes (one operator and two watchers for each backhoe). https://www[.]donelan[.]com/pictures/
On Wed, 2026-02-25 at 15:17 -0500, Ethan O'Toole via NANOG wrote:
Doh, was going to say can you ask them if they have any 5ESS hardware they don't want anymore? I want to rescue a minimum config one for home before they get scrapped.
------------ Almost extinct. You could try reaching out to Phil McCartier (https://stepswitch.us/). is known among telephone switch collectors. He still might have one in the back of his truck :) He donated a ton of stuff to the Connections Museum. good luck /vrode
The suit&tie managers and repair crews are gone. Just fresh orange call-before-you-dig marks on pavement and three people for each of the six backhoes (one operator and two watchers for each backhoe). https://www[.]donelan[.]com/pictures/
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I don't know about the 5ESS, but there is at least one DMS-100 in private hands: http://www.dms-100.net/telephony/nortel/dms-100/story/ (site does not support SSL; change it back to http if your browser decides https would be better) Its owner turns it on when electricity prices are favorable and he feels like it. You can dial into/through it at those times via C*Net (https://www.ckts.info/). -Rusty On Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 3:18 PM Ethan O'Toole via NANOG <nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
Doh, was going to say can you ask them if they have any 5ESS hardware they don't want anymore? I want to rescue a minimum config one for home before they get scrapped.
The suit&tie managers and repair crews are gone. Just fresh orange call-before-you-dig marks on pavement and three people for each of the six backhoes (one operator and two watchers for each backhoe). https://www[.]donelan[.]com/pictures/
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participants (4)
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Ethan O'Toole -
Rusty Dekema -
Sean Donelan -
virendra rode