Telkom fixed lines drop by 110 000

[.Froot.]

Why am I not suprised? Eish...

 

[Tns]

Does anybody know what type of Cable they normally steal? How many isolated copper wires in each cable? How thick is each? I am so desperate for my phone back that I plan to go wire in my own cable. It's 95m long that was stolen. Anyone know what the legal implications would be if I were to do this?
As it is Telkom were supposed to be crediting me for the downtime on my line, but I received a nice hefty bill for the third month of downtime now which I have obviously not paid for. If they're going to be be charging me for a service they're under contract to deliver to me which I am not getting, then surely they can't do anything to me if I interfere with their infrastructure to try get that service working? This is how desperate I am !

forget it! it's "illegal" and beside would you know how to? those line do carry a fair amount of volts.

 

[fragtion]

forget it! it's "illegal" and beside would you know how to? those line do carry a fair amount of volts.

Assuming there's nothing fancy besides an ordinary pair of copper wire carrying the same voltage that lands up in my house, I'd easily be able to do it.
I've worked with low-amp 48V ringing-voltage telephone cable on my side of the demarc without any trouble, so as long as proper precaution is practiced it shouldnt be a problem.
I'm sure the thieves just severed a typical copper pair which I could easily replace with a a long enough 'Spar' lampshade extension cable (series-join a few together), pair of electrical gloves, and the fair-enough electrical knowledge I have.
It may be illegal, but let's see them even prove it was me in the first place. I need my Phone service back - I've waited 4 months now.

Sound's like a joke, doesn't it? Well that's only because I'm in the middle of it (The circus even, that is South Africa).

 

[-toady-]

Hey, I really feel your pain but.....

>It may be illegal, but let's see them even prove it was me in the first place. I need my Phone service back - I've waited 4 months now.<

I say again, this forum is swarming with Minions of the Beast.... Would your words above not be considered proof enough? Tread gently dude.....

 

[fragtion]

I say again, this forum is swarming with Minions of the Beast.... Would your words above not be considered proof enough? Tread gently dude.....

Haha yeah well they must know how pathetic their Cable Department is, or at least the financing for it. How difficult can it be? Replace the cables in one area repeatedly and follow trends of theft, and then get some kind of security to catch them out. It's all one big syndicate if you ask me - if they see half their guys are being arrested they'll obviously stop stealing. They used to steal cables in the USA, but then the police cracked down on the scrap yards and fined some so badly that it put them out of business. The rest saw this and realized it was too risky and stopped. That's what we need here.

Telkom: There is no alternative to cables for you guys at this stage - find a way to get them secured. There is no such thing as DSL over WLAN unfortunately (WIMAX doesnt compete with DSL when it comes to latency or speed), and you guys currently hold the monopoly for DSL, so you should be making every effort to ensure that there is ample copper everywhere. If you guys are going to go wireless, you're also going to get chomped by the competition. Welcome to 2008 where competition is slowly getting the market healthy.
Get rid of the thiefs, (re)place/improve the infrastructure, have well-valued packages, and we'll be 1 step closer to getting this country back on track.