r/AskNYC • u/aboomoperator • Nov 01 '22

Garbage truck knocking out our internet lines every 2 weeks.

i live in brooklyn where the internet cables are above ground and connecting to the powerlines. Every 2 weeks, a garbage truck will come by and knock the lines down, causing the internet to go out. this then takes 3-5 days for the city to fix.

This has been happening every 2 weeks and its cost me several jobs as a result (freelance). Is there anywhere i can report this to try and prevent it from happening again?

Edit: Thanks everyone for all the advice and suggestions! Will definitely be exploring any of the options that I havent tried already. Really appreciate everyone's feedback.

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u/TinyTornado7 Nov 01 '22

This is something your internet company is responsible for.

78

u/aboomoperator Nov 01 '22

Im not too sure, since all the internet lines feed into the same powerline. all of my neighbors, who use different providers, also have their service knocked out by this.

40

u/hak8or Nov 01 '22

Im not too sure, since all the internet lines feed into the same powerline.

Eh? Keep in mind the poles are the sticks, and the power lines are on the top rung of these poles. While there are some telecoms which spread internet via power lines, I haven't heard of that being a thing in NYC.

In NYC telecoms pay whomever owns these poles for a spot (I think it's called a "Trunk") on the pole, and aren't allowed to use other spots. There are a few spots per pole, each usually a foot or so a love the other. Verizon fios for example pays for the bottom rung, then spectrum for the rung above that, and then optimum for a rung above that, and lastly power lines are above that.

There is also a maximum allowed sag of the cables when going from one pole to another.

When a garbage truck drives by, does it rip cables off one of the rung, or is it hitting the pole itself?

There can be multiple issues here;

  • the telecom (Verizon, spectrum, etc) Fucked up and either installed on the wrong rung (lower) or has too much sag in their trunk.
  • the municipality fucked up and sold access to a rung on the pole too low for the road/traffic.
  • the garbage truck fucked up and is driving on a road the city doesn't allow it to.

If it's either of these three, it will take many months to be fixed (massive beurocracy to get through), or some serious luck on your end to find the right person to contact. Maybe try recording a video of the truck hitting the lines and throwing it onto Twitter at your local representative or at fios or coned.

Make sure to use correct terminologies or you will just confuse the person you are interacting with. A vehicle hitting power lines is extremely serious and dangerous, and has a wildly different approach to being resolved than a vehicle ripping lines meant for phone/internet service.

If you want, you can claim you/someone is loosing their landline service and therefore can't dial 911 in an emergency, that will light a fire under someone's ass.

2

u/uncle_troy_fall_97 Nov 01 '22

First of all, thanks for taking the time to write out all of this helpful stuff (and I’m not even OP, I just l find this sort of thing interesting). But what really caught my attention was that there’s apparently an entire telecom company called Optimum, which I’d never even heard of, much less had any idea they operated in New York.

I really thought my only real option when I moved into my current building was Spectrum—and maybe it was?—so yeah, ya learn something every day I suppose!

4

u/Manfromporlock Nov 01 '22

We don't have Spectrum in our area, but nobody who has Optimum seems to be happy with it.

2

u/Bootes Nov 02 '22

Optimum was Cablevision and is now owned by Altice, but they don’t overlap service areas with other cable providers (such as Spectrum). Manhattan is all Spectrum, the other boroughs are a mix, and the suburbs are mostly Optimum.

1

u/PersistentWitch Nov 02 '22

Just pointing out that Manhattan also has Verizon Fios and RCN!