Telecom Rollouts Raise Ire Over Utility Boxes 284
Anti-Globalism points out this AP story, which notes:
"As cable and phone companies race to upgrade services or offer video for the first time, they're doing it by installing equipment in boxes on lawns, easements and curbs all over American neighborhoods. Telecommunications rollouts have always been messy, but several towns and residents are fighting back with cries of 'Not in my front yard!' AT&T Inc.'s nearly fridge-sized units, which route its new U-verse video product to customers, are drawing particular ire. A few caught fire or even exploded. AT&T said it has fixed that by replacing the units' backup batteries."
Re:Bzzzzzt! (Score:3, Informative)
Some neighborhoods...my old one, for instance, have no telephone poles. Everything is underground.
These things are really huge (Score:5, Informative)
As someone who just had one of these installed at the end of our block, I can attest to the size and noise of the things. They are about twice the size of a standard telephone box, with a footprint of about 5'x5'x5'. They are actively cooled, so you can always hear the fan churning away. They also have diagnostic leds on the outside, so in the middle of the night, you can still see their ugliness.
Unfortunately, the volume of these things makes it impractical to hang them from a utility pole and the need for maintenance and cooling precludes burying them.
The real shame is that the one in my neighborhood got installed on someone's easement, meaning that she's now responsible for mowing around the damn thing.
Re:It isn't "fast internet" or "no internet" (Score:5, Informative)
The telco is *not* going to say "NO FIOS FOR YOU" if the community demanded they bury these turds. They will just jack the price up by $0.01 and amortize the cost over 20 years.
You have no idea how much more expensive it is to bury all that equipment and then to maintain the buried equipment. Think factors, not percent. If the density in the target area is low, the telco would just as well leave the old copper and coax in place. That's what they are doing where my parents live -- low density, buried lines, no new services. Not even uVerse. Just live with your pretty copper and coax.
The cheaper it is to install new services, the faster and more widely deployed those services will be. That's just common sense folks!
IMHO.... (Score:1, Informative)
I work for a company that builds cell networks for cell providers (such as Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc.). We have a right of way, provided by the FCC under the same laws that allow telephone companies to install poles and wires, to put out equipment nearly any where we please. We do try to stay out of the way of residents and maintain a low profile in the city. However, since cell tower location is an important factor in network coverage, some complaints by residents just can't be resolved.
People really want cell phones. They want them to work nearly everywhere with full reception. However, they don't want to see or hear any of the construction or upkeep of the equipment that is required to be placed in their neighborhoods. Obviously, these are conflicting desires. Something has to give.
AT&T probably did a poor job here in the placement of its equipment. But IMHO, most residents are unrealistic when they crave services but are unwilling to deal with the equipment required to run the services.
DRGAF (Score:3, Informative)
I've worked with many tech folks from (insert name of big telecom company here) ranging from the engineers who architected the systems down to the grunts who actually perform the installation of the hardware on-site. From the top to the bottom, they mostly tend to all operate on the DRGAF (Don't Really Give A F*ck) principle.
Oh, and also anytime their equipment or cabling fails or malfunctions, it's always the end-customers or the customers' equipment at fault. The telecom company's equipment always "tests good from their end", even when smoke is pouring out their fibermux cabinet.
Re:They have to go somewhere? (Score:3, Informative)
I live in Canada where practically everyone has high-speed access and I've never seen such huge pieces of equipment, anywhere.
Re:Community Planning 101 (Score:3, Informative)
Yep. The first one was actually placed by a church as part of their "getting the word out" I thought.
They just sold the interior out to make some money.
Any idea when the latter two were installed? I always wondered about those two.
Re:They have to go somewhere? (Score:3, Informative)
They don't like to bury them for several reasons. I've seen an underground telephone "splice" get flooded and knock out a large chunk of businesses before they could get it pumped out and fixed.
In many towns you see small green boxes jut out of the lawn near the curb, those are also splices.
Also for the larger equipment where it's more than just a splice, it's a bigger deal if it gets wet, and you have to be able to get at it for maintenance. A proper vault in the ground for such a thing would add a lot to the cost.
Re:Cell towers (Score:2, Informative)
Disguising a cell tower as a pine tree is known as a "Jersey Pine". I've actually seen a couple in New Jersey. Had I been less observant, I would not have seen it, though. All I knew at first was that one of those trees looked oddly regular.
This does require wooded areas to work, though. In other areas, they may look better, but they'd still be obvious.
Re:It isn't "fast internet" or "no internet" (Score:3, Informative)
Here's a Picture [google.com] of one.
If they could hide these effectively, I wouldn't care, but it is the size of these monstrosities in addition to the sneaky tactics that AT&T is trying to pull that really pisses me off. There are cities all over the country that are suing AT&T to stop them from being installed until they do it properly. AT&T is breaking the law in a lot a places with the size of these things. Not only that, but they're trying to sell TV services without getting a franchising license from the city (they're staying they don't have to because they're providing "data" services).
Nevertheless, I would say that's pretty darn close to a Volkswagon in size. And I have mod points, and I really wanted to -1 you, but Slashdot doesn't have the right mod (and I don't want to use overrated).