Time Warner Hunts Copper Thieves - Says Texas line theft impacted 45,000 users
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Time Warner Hunts Copper Thieves
Says Texas line theft impacted 45,000 users
(old news - 01:43PM Tuesday Aug 07 2007)
tags: business · hardware · cable · networking · TimeWarner
As we just mentioned, copper thieves are getting bolder as the price of copper rises, often stripping live power and phone lines from poles. Time Warner is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons involved in a suspected copper theft and fiber sabotage in Texas.: The company said that someone vandalized the fiber-optic lines in conduits that ran through the I-35 underpass near the Trinity River in Dallas. The incidents occurred on June 19 and July 24, officials say. About 45,000 customers temporarily lost phone, Internet, and television in June, and over 16,000 more lost service as a result of the second incident. Time Warner said the cost of the damge ran in the thousands of dollars. As previously noted, a pound of copper scrap nets thieves around $ 3.50, so they're stealing it from literally everywhere, including homes, air conditioning units and telecom infrastructure.
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King Duck @ 7th Aug 01:31PM:
Hmmmmm...
"The company said that someone vandalized the fiber-optic lines"
Time Warner have figured out how to send light down copper?
Quick!! Someone tell Verizon!
:D
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Hall @ 7th Aug 01:38PM:
Re: Hmmmmm...
Yeah, how much copper is in fiber optic cables ??
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mwf @ 7th Aug 01:41PM:
Thieves are stupid
You're assuming thieve are smart.
Do away with places to sell scrap copper, this kind of crap would end. At least do what pawn shops do and require positive id from the sellers.
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jc100 @ 7th Aug 01:44PM:
It Pays.. But risk is real
A Thief here electrocuted himself when trying to steal copper from a power line. However, from their perspective it pays to take the risk. At 3.50 dollars a pound, 50 pounds will yield you a weeks worth of work (at minimum wage) for a few hours of stealing. Figure this: 7 dollars an hour x 30 hrs a week = 210 Dollars. Less 30 percent for taxes and you got 150 dollars. A thief who is desperate for money doesn't care about the 10's of thousands in damage her or she causes. Merely, they think about the quick pay day. I guarantee you most people doing this are NOT your well employed people. They are either kids looking for a quick buck or adults that want to get some extra money. Either way, it's wrong, but that's my guess on their rationale.
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jjsk8r85 @ 7th Aug 01:47PM:
Re: Thieves are stupid
I've scrapped metal before (steel and stainless steel from work:P) here in michigan, and any place that i've been to requires only a social security number, name, and address, but doesn't cross check the information you write down to anything else. someone could fill out the form like this:
Big Bird
123 Sesame Street
Nowhere, USA
SS#: 123-456-7890
and no one would ever know the difference.
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vpoko @ 7th Aug 01:54PM:
Re: It Pays.. But risk is real
said by jc100 :
I guarantee you most people doing this are NOT your well employed people.
That's about the safest prediction I've seen here.
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rayeger @ 7th Aug 01:54PM:
Re: Hmmmmm...
The people who cut the fiber probably didnt know it wasnt copper until after they cut it, especially if it was inside a conduit under a bridge.
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juicelee @ 7th Aug 01:55PM:
Re: Hmmmmm...
Well if the thieves managed to steal copper along with that fiber, TW might as well replace it all with optical lines.
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moonpuppy @ 7th Aug 02:09PM:
Re: Thieves are stupid
Any place caught with forms filled out that way should be shut down for impropper record keeping.
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Subaru @ 7th Aug 02:09PM:
lets hit the power lines
I want to see 25,000V hit that body thats going to make him dance :D
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raythompsontn @ 7th Aug 02:12PM:
Re: lets hit the power lines
said by Subaru :
I want to see 25,000V hit that body thats going to make him dance :D
The only dancing that you would see would be the smoke dancing in the breeze after the cretin is fried.
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madrhino @ 7th Aug 02:18PM:
Re: Thieves are stupid
said by mwf :
You're assuming thieve are smart.
Do away with places to sell scrap copper, this kind of crap would end.
Then what do the small plumbers,aluminum window installers,electricians and contractors who have been selling scrap for years before the price shot up do?
--
Get Verizon FIOS,The Anti-DIOS
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CrazyFingers @ 7th Aug 02:28PM:
Re: Thieves are stupid
said by moonpuppy :
Any place caught with forms filled out that way should be shut down for impropper record keeping.
Yes, impropper recordd keepping is a terribble scourgge on our societty.
Whenn, oh WHENN will it endd?
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moonpuppy @ 7th Aug 02:30PM:
Re: Thieves are stupid
said by CrazyFingers :said by moonpuppy :
Any place caught with forms filled out that way should be shut down for impropper record keeping.
Yes, impropper recordd keepping is a terribble scourgge on our societty.
Whenn, oh WHENN will it endd?
They already shut down pawn shops here for bad record keeping since they like to accept stolen property. ;)
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EGeezer @ 7th Aug 03:00PM:
Re: Hmmmmm...
said by King Duck :
"The company said that someone vandalized the fiber-optic lines"
Time Warner have figured out how to send light down copper?
Quick!! Someone tell Verizon!
:D
Time Warner knew there was no copper inside the wires, but the geniuses who rripped off the cable most likely didn't. They probably got a nice surprise when they stripped the sheathing off and found - plastic :D
--
In memoriam Tommy Makem, Nov. 4, 1932 - Aug. 1, 2007
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smcallah @ 7th Aug 03:05PM:
Re: Hmmmmm...
Yeah, because they can splice in fiber in the middle of copper lines, and that will work with the equipment on either end of the copper.
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Hall @ 7th Aug 03:27PM:
Re: Hmmmmm...
At the original story, in the comments, someone did say there's copper in those lines but a very small amount. As you say though, it's "wire" and normally safe to assume copper or aluminum.
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Kearnstd @ 7th Aug 04:07PM:
Re: Thieves are stupid
even for legit work id refuse my SSN to a scrap yard and go somewhere else. this day in age how can i be sure of their security measures.
--
[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports
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anon @ 7th Aug 04:46PM:
And If Their Caught
...The judge will give them a tiny pat on the butt and send them off with probation. If this happened in Los Angeles and you saw it happen and dialed 911,you would see the LAPD show up three hours later,then jump out of the squad car with guns drawn!
The Rewards a little flaky too!
"leading to the arrest and conviction" So if the prosecuting,Government employed jackoff, attorney fucks up the case you'll lose your reward.
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toadlife @ 7th Aug 05:31PM:
Re: It Pays.. But risk is real
said by jc100 :
They are either kids looking for a quick buck or adults that want to get some extra money. Either way, it's wrong, but that's my guess on their rationale.
The people that steal copper are mostly meth addicts looking to score some crank.
--
Hate your enemies. Save your friends. Find your place. Speak the truth.
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fiber_man @ 7th Aug 05:37PM:
190 volt on phone lines
The new equipment being used on phone lines is using 190 volts. You know when you hit/cut it. It will light you up. I for one don't feel sorry for the people stealing the copper.
--
GO NOLES!!
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GlobalMind @ 7th Aug 05:54PM:
Re: Thieves are stupid
said by Kearnstd :
even for legit work id refuse my SSN to a scrap yard and go somewhere else. this day in age how can i be sure of their security measures.
Yea using a SSN to ID isn't exactly acceptable practice anymore. Here's my DL#, deal with it.
On another line of thought, you can't really just start assuming stuff is stolen either. Heck, back 8 yrs or so ago I had a big ol box full of 25 & 50 pair to scrap that came from rewiring the office. Man that box was heavy. Wish I had that same thing today, even counting the sheathing taken off that thing was at least 100lbs.
--
TheGlobalMind.com | Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go? | Angus the IT Chap
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X_Digit @ 7th Aug 06:21PM:
Wrong place...
I know somebody will take this as a racial response (however, it's based on statistics)... they're lookin' in the wrong place! I work for a local PD, and 90% of the copper thefts are from Hispanic males (no surprise as this is Texas). They need to be looking at the border! I'm sure smuggling copper is now as big as the drug issue. Mexico friends... it's 90% of the problem.
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tmc8080 @ 7th Aug 07:14PM:
Marked or Unmarked?
Fiber conduits are supposed to be MARKED every few hundred feet with either RED, YELLOW or some other special color designation for each carrier in a region.. This is the way Verizon doesn't get confused with mistaking its lines for a cable company's neighborhood node fiber...
As for the copper... it's days of being up on poles is numbered.. if not from the deadly liaisons of would-be thieves.. from the march of technology into telecom/cablecom.
Hey, I just thought of something... ya know, COAX has copper as well.. maybe they'll go after the coax too.. Why do they primarily pick on telco copper? Another incentive to get fiber marching into people's homes/buildings. Cut fiber optics (for the most part) is worthless junk.
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burner50 @ 7th Aug 07:33PM:
Re: Marked or Unmarked?
said by tmc8080 :
ya know, COAX has copper as well.. maybe they'll go after the coax too.. Why do they primarily pick on telco copper?
Because most coaxial cable is copper-clad steel, and basically worthless
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MacLeech @ 7th Aug 08:12PM:
Re: Marked or Unmarked?
said by burner50 :said by tmc8080 :
ya know, COAX has copper as well.. maybe they'll go after the coax too.. Why do they primarily pick on telco copper?
Because most coaxial cable is copper-clad steel, and basically worthless
Hardline is copper-clad aluminum. Drop and house cable is often copper-clad steel.
Copper alone is too expensive.
--
Don't mind me, I'm just trying to help...
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fireflier @ 7th Aug 10:09PM:
Re: And If Their Caught
It's not all a loss. For the dumbasses stealing copper from substations, the laws of physics will catch up with them sooner or later even if societal laws don't.
Unfortunately for them, substation equipment makes for a good judge, jury, and executioner, does it without appeal and the sentencing takes about a half a second.
--
Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com
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jimzzzak @ 8th Aug 06:50AM:
caught in the act
I caught 2 guys at my home site in Austin.
They had just snipped off the bundle of large electrical wires that was exiting my house before a electrical box was installed and then hooked to the grid.
I got their license plate as they drove away and 2 days later I identified the driver in a photo line-up.
Now at least one of the guys is facing felony charges because they decided to rip off the next door neighbor's toolbox at the same time.
So if he had not stopped to snip off 4 bucks worth of copper from my future home, he wouldn't have to face a prison sentence. :)
The scrap yard is 3 blocks away.
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wev567 @ 8th Aug 08:18PM:
Re: It Pays.. But risk is real
$3.50 a pound is the price for copper on the commodity markets - they will not get that much from your friendly neighborhood scrap yard. Everyone needs to make a profit off their ill-gotten booty...
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Raz0r @ 8th Aug 08:50PM:
Re: caught in the act
The Big thing it seems to steal around where I live are Catalytic Converters from people's trucks. Just need to be high enough to get under and then they hack them off. The owner at a later time Starts the truck up and now has a loud exhaust problem. Sometimes the oxygen sensor is taken right along with it. They are worth quite a bit of money. My guess is more then the Copper.
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jc100 @ 8th Aug 11:33PM:
Re: It Pays.. But risk is real
So figure they get 2 dollars a pound and steal 50 pounds. 100 Dollars for a minimum wage worker is still three days work @ 7 dollars an hour. $7 x 24 = 168 less 30 percent in taxes... and that leaves you with roughly 115-120 dollars. Assuming you get 2 dollars or a bit over, that's still not a bad payday for someone living check by check. Therefore, my assessment stands. It's either kids or low paid workers that are causing this havoc.
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anon @ 8th Aug 11:46PM:
TW Sucks !!!
If you're a paying customer and you come home one day and your service (internet and TV) are not working, you call TW and they tell you they are performing a "Tap Audit"... good luck getting service restored!. This just happend to me - it took 3 days to restore service - it would have taken much longer if I hadn't flagged down one of their service trucks...
They wil simply disconnect you and ask questions later !!!
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madrhino @ 17th Aug 04:15PM:
Re: caught in the act
said by Raz0r :
The Big thing it seems to steal around where I live are Catalytic Converters from people's trucks. Just need to be high enough to get under and then they hack them off. The owner at a later time Starts the truck up and now has a loud exhaust problem. Sometimes the oxygen sensor is taken right along with it. They are worth quite a bit of money. My guess is more then the Copper.
They have platinum in them
--
Get Verizon FIOS,The Anti-DIOS
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