Vandalism Shut Down Internet, Cellphone, Telephone Service Across Arizona

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Can someone please explain to me how you can leave a fiber optic cable exposed so that vandals can just walk right up to it and cut it with a hacksaw?

“There was a vandalism that took place on a fiber optic cable that basically runs from Phoenix to Northern Arizona,” said Alex Juarez, a spokesman for CenturyLink in Arizona. The line, which is composed of extremely thick cable, appeared to have been cut with a hacksaw, according to Juarez. Phoenix police are currently investigating the incident and say they have yet to determine a motivation for the crime.
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Motivation is trolling? Maybe a statement about Title 2.
 
Fiber is exposed everywhere, whoever cut it knew what they were doing though since it can be hard to determine what is fiber, coax, phone or power cables.
 
Probably thought it was copper, especially if it was cut in the middle of nowhere.
 
From the article you did not read.

Police say vandals must have used heavy equipment to expose the cable.

“The fiber optic cable was encased in metal piping which would have to have been accessed prior to reaching the optics,” the police said in a statement. “This indicates a power tool of type may have been used.”
 
Some copper thief crackhead who should be strung high as a warning to others did that with the one fiber line that kept all the red phones, black phones and high profile emergency lines in Sweden connected, several years ago.

If this was vandalism and not a methhead, be very afraid.
 
it's also at the bottom of a riverbead area. It's dry this time of year but come monsoon season it's very much underwater.

IMO it's likely a disgruntled employee
 
Ryokurin said:
Probably thought it was copper, especially if it was cut in the middle of nowhere.
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I'm certain that's EXACTLY why. The perp was thinking OMG imma gonna be rich. Till he noticed no bright sheen and copper dust coming from his cut. Then he bailed. Metal thieves happen all the time these days.
 
So what would happen if a lot of fiber lines were all cut at the same time all over the US?

Bringing down communications would be a huge thing to empower terrorists to be able to carry out an attack.
 
I live in northern Arizona and it sucked. ALL of the conventional ISPs up here apparently run through the single fiber conduit. The only thing that was working was Verizon Wireless service. Banks closed and even the regional 911 center shut down forcing all 911 to failover to the backup POTS line at the county sheriff's office. a SINGLE POTS line too! It's absurd that it all runs through that one line. Being in IT services every client I had was calling me with 5 minutes of the interruption.
 
Steve said:
Can someone please explain to me how you can leave a fiber optic cable exposed so that vandals can just walk right up and cut it with a hacksaw?
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Easy, where it is underground and then goes aerial up the side of a pole or in a handhole. No special tools to open a handhole.
 
Yup, 10 to 1 says this was some copper thief who realized he didn't hit pay dirt.

And for the Title II jokes
Soon to come 48 cent tax on all internet for "Security for America's Interwebz Fee"
 
Phoenix police are currently investigating the incident and say they have yet to determine a motivation for the crime.
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umm... maybe because people can be dicks, especially when they think they won't be caught? Just spit ballin'.
 
As others said, fiber is exposed in lots of places. We do ours as areal in a lot of places as it is faster and cheaper than burial. Even we we do bury it, the poles in the ground that say caution before digging, buried fiber optics would make it easy to know where it is. Then all you need to do is look for the ped or vault to break it open. In most places if you know what you are doing you can take out internet, tv or phone with little effort.
 
Exavior said:
As others said, fiber is exposed in lots of places. We do ours as areal in a lot of places as it is faster and cheaper than burial. Even we we do bury it, the poles in the ground that say caution before digging, buried fiber optics would make it easy to know where it is. Then all you need to do is look for the ped or vault to break it open. In most places if you know what you are doing you can take out internet, tv or phone with little effort.
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Exactly.

One thing that stands out to me is the lack of redundancy. We always do a minimum of 2 links per office for redundancy, going to different upstream sites of course. Smaller offices typically have 2-3 OC-192's to each upstream site (hub offices). From hub office to hub office we have multiple 100Gb links, again to at least 2 other sites. Because of the nature of running duct there are some places where the 2 links run side-by-side for a mile or so, but those areas all require permits to do any digging. Even in emergency situations being resolved by electric/gas companies we are on-site to repair any damage in those areas.
 
bds1904 said:
Exactly.

One thing that stands out to me is the lack of redundancy. We always do a minimum of 2 links per office for redundancy, going to different upstream sites of course. Smaller offices typically have 2-3 OC-192's to each upstream site (hub offices). From hub office to hub office we have multiple 100Gb links, again to at least 2 other sites. Because of the nature of running duct there are some places where the 2 links run side-by-side for a mile or so, but those areas all require permits to do any digging. Even in emergency situations being resolved by electric/gas companies we are on-site to repair any damage in those areas.
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Because redundancy = more money. CEO's, share holders and accountants dont like to spend more money on tech they don't understand.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
How do, fuckwits with tractors have been doing this for years.
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Tractors? You don't need a damn tractor in many areas to dig deep enough with a shovel or a simple back hoe to break a cable line. In Montana, many lines are closer to the surface so its easier to repair them vs having them buried deeper which costs more to do and then cost more to repair.
 
We have a client in this area and got notification of their server going offline, called and got a fast busy.

Only found out the next day that the only internet line coming in to the area was cut!

How can half a state have just a single line coming in? Why not make it easier and put each state on its own fiber bundle! This was just take out 50 runs and all of America is dark. Genius!!
 
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