Sympathies to the land wire crews

Most, if not nearly ALL of the "land wire crews" in America deliver power (electricity.)
THEY are worthy of not only respect and admiration, but the occasional pizza and a hot beverage!!

(Tele)Communications DOES play an important role!
Transformative, even.
JUST ask anyone in western North Caroline or coastal California!!!! - which is why those loblolly pine sticks are still sometimes called 'telephone poles' - EVEN THOUGH that phrase is about as antiquated as a 'phonograph record.'

Most telecommunications in the US is now, ironically, 'conducted' either with glass or air.

MY role in all of this is rather humble - and I am an oddity in the telecommunications world - as in most worlds.
I was a 'direct -hire' as an electronic(s) technician - in a company where most people achieve this job title starting out as a 'probationary hire' during their high school years humping 32' ladders through the woods and fields or working as an operator.
These people worked their way up through the job titles so that by the time their knees and shoulders gave out they could wait out their retirements in the central offices with 12' rolling ladders and cushioned rolling chairs.

During my first year working with "Big Bell" I attended dozens of schools where I was the only person in the class with less than 30 years on the clock.
I HAVE taken shelter under more than one overpass while a tornado roared past, and I've had to drive in more than a few hurricanes - because, like Waffle House employees, even the 'inside folks' are expected to be present for duty during a storm.

People that hook poles for a living usually get killed on the job by the same thing that kills most cops, soldiers, and pilots.

Their fellow drivers....
REALLY.
When it's stormy OUT???

Stay IN.

 

That reminds me of our DSL issue a few years ago, Whenever there was wind, we would get noise on the line and have issues, but our lines were underground. The techs finally decided to move us to another pair to make us happy. Just before they moved us, they did one last listen and were surprised to hear the noise. My best guess is somewhere there was an above ground feed to the system.

 

One of the two reasons that I'm in something of a 'buggy whip industry' is that copper conducts electricity and it's prone to corrosion.
When I worked as a government contractor in oceanography I used to tell people that if salt water were an insulator then I would have to find honest work.
-a little late for that now, and I have the mixed blessing of being old enough to just about be able to retire before they turn down the last of the telephone switches in America.

The thing is......all the glass that they're putting into the ground IS much better at feeding cell towers and homes with data - but as I just quoted in another thread - sometimes the best part is NO part!

Eventually, space born elements will obviate if not eliminate all of the current 'last-mile' issues - for POWER and data, probably.

 

We don’t see much of this around Boston.
Are the lines more robust?

 

Mrs b and I talk about that all the time, how weirder the world seems as you grow older.
I just wish God didn’t give us such a strong desire to live

 

My DSL went out a year ago this month when a tech went up the pole to fix a problem reported by my neighbor down the block, and while fixing hers, thought he'd just dike out some other pairs up there that surely none of these other houses used anymore.

I was out a solid week, which was the soonest they would send another tech out to fix it.

 

"loblolly pine sticks are still sometimes called 'telephone poles' " Or perhaps

Types of Wood Used for Utility Poles | ehow

 

People use what they use.
One of my Central offices is next to a pole production facility.
WE don't use any of the poles because we are buying glass instead of hanging copper.

NOPE.
They're not trying to get you to cancel your service so they can turn down the port.

 

What was the prompt that produced that AI Overview?

 

After almost 70 years, I just found out that they dig up the ground around the poles on a regular schedule to see if they are rotting and need replacement

 

Came home one day only to find a pickup blocking my 500 yard long driveway and a guy peeing next to a telephone pole on my farm....he was the very embarrassed "dig up around the pole guy."

They have since put in fiber optic to my place. Took them 2.5 days.

No one bothered to tell me that fiber optics now meant my landline phone no longer works during our frequent power outages and the celluar signal here can be marginal at best.

Ah, well. Back to the land at it's best.
kris

 

There are community rumors here we will be forced from cable modem to fiber Internet. We already made the move to cell phones instead of the landline.

 

Already happened here a few years back.
Att notified us that they would be discontinuing copper lines.
At $65./mo., they lost a customer, but did us a favor

 

What technology do you use for Internet connection now?

 

I just use a battery backup to maintain service during a short outage. My system stays up for about an hour after the outage.

JeffD

 

We switched to comcast triple play. Internet, cable and phone. I’m working on Mrs b to give up the cable, which is a ripoff, but not much luck so far.
We had cable internet for a long time though. Gave up DSL when I started working from home circa 2004

 

We actually have an antenna for TV off the air along with Amazon Prime. We use cell phones and cable just for Internet.

 

That’s what I would like to do.
Our first cable/internet was $45./mo.
The triple play was $60.
It is now $300., 20 years later .
I would like her to dump prime as well