After a hot tip on the location of the fiber cut, and with Map Quest in hand, we went to search out the location of todays 500+ DS3 DC fiber cut. We were looking for a bunch of white vans and pick-ups with guys in hard hats and orange vests along the train tracks in Northern Laurel, MD - our search was fruitfull and within 10 minutes of locating the tracks we had found the scene of the cut. It is located off the Baltimore Washington Parkway at the Route 32 exit about 1/2 mile from the NSA (hmm) along CWX railroad tracks. About 7 vehicles with WorldCom and Wiltel logo's and about 15 people strung out along a dusty portion of the tracks. In the distance a large back hoe and a construction company van, not a good sign. A piece of black cable about the width of a quarter lay strung along the tracks and one piece could be seen sticking out of the dirt, the white innards splayed out. We had found the cut. There was a gentleman with a white hard hat that said "WorldCom" sitting near a pit with another person in hard-hat hunched over a portable work-bench working on a cable. We asked what happened and no one knew, but obviously from the back-hoe and railroad construction in the area, not much explanation was needed. What time did it happen? "About 9am" Who's cable was it? "WorldCom - we lease fiber to all the other carriers". I mentioned we had heard about it on the Internet and everyone seemed to perk up. Yes, they were famous. The scale of the cut was beyond anyones guess. It was a single cable laid in the dirt carrying 144 strands of fiber. How many DS-3's this was could be a lot more then 500 DS3's. As we left it struck me that this cut was not if, but when. And more cuts like it. There was no protection for the cable, no markers of the cable location. I was also left with the impression that once right-aways are cleared, laying cable seems like a relativly cheap operation considering the cost of bandwidth over it's life-time. I wonder if there's a FAQ on becoming a cable maven.. --stb p.s. no estimate on what it will be up.
[ Apologies in advance, this doesn't contribute to official Nanog business, please direct flame directly to me. ]
After a hot tip on the location of the fiber cut, and with Map Quest in hand, we went to search out the location of todays 500+ DS3 DC fiber cut.
We were looking for a bunch of white vans and pick-ups with guys in hard hats and orange vests along the train tracks in Northern Laurel, MD - our search was fruitfull and within 10 minutes of locating the tracks we had found the scene of the cut. It is located off the Baltimore Washington Parkway at the Route 32 exit about 1/2 mile from the NSA (hmm) along CWX railroad tracks.
Does anyone know (in general terms) how the actual spot/vicinity of a fiber cut like this is located? Or its generally the construction crew calling the boss and saying, shit, look what we found? Would appriciate any info. Thanks. /Subodh Nijsure (subodh@best.com)
Shoot one of the fibers with a TDR. This will tell you how far away the break is. The carrier generally has maps of the route and they can pin point the location within a close enough tolerence to find the break. We had a break in the street in Manhatten and we told the carrier how far it was and it only took the a few minutes to locate it. Paul Subodh Nijsure wrote:
[ Apologies in advance, this doesn't contribute to official Nanog business, please direct flame directly to me. ]
After a hot tip on the location of the fiber cut, and with Map Quest in hand, we went to search out the location of todays 500+ DS3 DC fiber cut.
We were looking for a bunch of white vans and pick-ups with guys in hard hats and orange vests along the train tracks in Northern Laurel, MD - our search was fruitfull and within 10 minutes of locating the tracks we had found the scene of the cut. It is located off the Baltimore Washington Parkway at the Route 32 exit about 1/2 mile from the NSA (hmm) along CWX railroad tracks.
Does anyone know (in general terms) how the actual spot/vicinity of a fiber cut like this is located? Or its generally the construction crew calling the boss and saying, shit, look what we found?
Would appriciate any info.
Thanks.
/Subodh Nijsure (subodh@best.com)
-- |-------------------------------------------------------| Paul Trotter 299 Park Avenue Network Architect New York, New York 10171 Union Bank of Switzerland phone: (212) 821-6252 ptrotter@ny.ubs.com fax: (212) 821-5877
On Thu, 17 Jul 1997, Stephen Balbach wrote: ->As we left it struck me that this cut was not if, but when. And more cuts ->like it. There was no protection for the cable, no markers of the cable ->location. The no markers part baffles me. Engineers of yore are surely turning in their graves. I wonder how many of the cuts (including the 2? 3? today [Fri]) are due to lack of markings? And why no markings? My speculation is that the suits have short-term-profit tunnel vision, and decided to bag them in the name of the bottom line, but if anyone has other ideas, I'd be interested in hearing them. Stephen, the first sentence in your quoted portion is prescient in light of today's events. jamie jamie@comet.net *************************************************************************** For PGP public key, mail me with Subject:GET KEY For random Ambrose Bierce quote, Mail me with Subject: ambrose "Microsoft was invented by domestic terrorists. Remember, it's no longer an import industry." -wish I knew who said it
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 17:31:32 -0400 (EDT) From: jamie@comet.net (jamie) To: Stephen Balbach <stephen@clark.net> Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: DC fiber cut: field report
On Thu, 17 Jul 1997, Stephen Balbach wrote:
->As we left it struck me that this cut was not if, but when. And more cuts ->like it. There was no protection for the cable, no markers of the cable ->location.
They're giving such more service that they are affraid of vandilism of the lines if they show people where they are?
The no markers part baffles me. Engineers of yore are surely turning in their graves. I wonder how many of the cuts (including the 2? 3? today [Fri]) are due to lack of markings? And why no markings? My speculation is that the suits have short-term-profit tunnel vision, and decided to bag them in the name of the bottom line, but if anyone has other ideas, I'd be interested in hearing them. Stephen, the first sentence in your quoted portion is prescient in light of today's events. jamie jamie@comet.net *************************************************************************** For PGP public key, mail me with Subject:GET KEY For random Ambrose Bierce quote, Mail me with Subject: ambrose "Microsoft was invented by domestic terrorists. Remember, it's no longer an import industry." -wish I knew who said it
participants (5)
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bigfoot＠shell.stomped.com -
jamie＠comet.net -
Paul Trotter -
Stephen Balbach -
Subodh Nijsure