• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Installing Fiber Optic Knocks Out Phones

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Leroy Standish, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.

Apr. 26--APPLE VALLEY -- Verizon's rush to install its fiber optic network is knocking out phone service to hundreds of local customers -- and costing some businesses up to $30,000 in lost revenue.

Since Verizon began expanding its phone service to provide the town with high-speed Internet and an alternative to cable television the company has literally been tripping over its old phone lines. Sub-contractors for the communications company have accidentally been cutting old telephone lines as they dig trenches to install Verizon's fiber optic network. The latest break occurred Tuesday at the corner of Navajo and Bear Valley roads and took out phone service to hundreds of Verizon customers.

"It is really affecting our business badly," said Anne Park, manager of Global Escrow, in the 21000 block of Bear Valley Road. "We are an escrow company and we have to be on the phone constantly."

She estimated that each day the phones are down the company loses between $20,000 and $30,000.

"I am so very upset because this is not the first time," Park said. In the three months the business has been open she estimated the phones have been out four separate days.

Next door Exit Desert Song Realty just opened. The real estate agent has spent thousands on advertising to get its phone number and name out to the public -- thousands of dollars that owner Carl Tate fears may have been wasted.

"If you call our number it just rings and rings and rings," Tate said. "It doesn't go to voice mail, it won't do anything."

Unable to say just how many customers are calling the office -- becoming discouraged and taking their business elsewhere -- Tate was sure business revenues were being lost.

"We had no phone service (Tuesday) morning. When we finally got through to Verizon on our cell phones they said they had a major screw up and won't have their phones back on until sometime (today)," Tate said.

The break disconnected up to 500 Verizon telephone customers, Jon Davies, Verizon spokesman, said.

Splicing and reconnecting the wires fell to HCI employees Bob Warner and Darryl Behrbnes. "There are 900 pair (of wires) and we are told there are 600 (working lines) and it is going to take us a while to repair," Warner said.

The wires have 10 different color codes; they are wrapped together 25 pairs to a group. Coated in a Vaseline-like substance to protect against water damage, the task of fixing the break is time-consuming and demanding. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy," Warner said.

Verizon's fiber optic network will continue to expand through Apple Valley in the coming years. The town is one of just 30 communities in Southern California where Verizon has chosen to bring its fiber optic network. The service will eventually provide Internet access at 30 megabytes per second and video on demand to the entire community, Davies said.

"It is a multiyear project; it is not something built over night," Davies said. "In the long run it is going to bring a whole host of benefits to the residents of Southern California."

From Here:

-- Back to today's news -- News Archive -- Join the discussion at the community forum

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:VZ,

Source: Daily Press - Victorville, California

More News in this Category