Fibre cable theft in South Africa

One of my branches has had no communications (data + voice) for 4 days because of cable theft. Its not a new challenge but dammit, cable providers need to dig deeper and make it impossible to get to the cables without heavy equipment.
 
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Thats a bit far fetched. Nobody is going to break down a man-hole with the intention of getting a bit of kevlar then spending hours shaping them only to sell them for R3.95.
 
HavocXphere said:
Thats a bit far fetched. Nobody is going to break down a man-hole with the intention of getting a bit of kevlar then spending hours shaping them only to sell them for R3.95.
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I think they might of been searching for copper. lol now that I think about I wold of loved to see their faces when they realized there was no copper
 
HavocXphere said:
Thats a bit far fetched. Nobody is going to break down a man-hole with the intention of getting a bit of kevlar then spending hours shaping them only to sell them for R3.95.
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unless you're lars, the cable is owned by vodacom and you want to give your pet magpie a xmas gift... :twisted:
 
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so you see a cable being laid... other than it being encased in concrete, how would you know that there's no copper inside?
how do the thieves research their targets?
 
I thinks someone has been smoking the beads :) I worked with fibre for quite a few years, and there is nothing in there you can use for making beads. Kevlar doesn't melt and the fibre itself would be impractical to melt down into beads since it is covered in cladding and grease not to mention the fact that its not normal glass. It has a very high melting point. Plus beads are not exactly worth much...
 
Never underestimate the determination of a thief .. beads will be made come hell or high water!!!
 
Maybe the previous copper thieves are now sabotaging these fibre cables cos they are angry that they are replacing the copper.

How dare we mess with their livelihood? :mad:
 
Lol @ beads. Sounds like Lars is having a bit of fun.

They'll never be interested in fibre unless it develops some resale value. It's not fungible like copper. It can't be worth much melted down.

I can't imagine targeted fibre theft except by people involved in the business. That'd be interesting. Nigerian telecoms buying black-market fibre from SA. Lol. Welcome to the future.
 
Garyvdh said:
Maybe the previous copper thieves are now sabotaging these fibre cables cos they are angry that they are replacing the copper.

How dare we mess with their livelihood? :mad:
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Actually not as far-fetched as it sounds, remember about 2 years ago taxi drivers were marching because the metro police dared to give them tickets for driving like absolute maniacs?

But still, beads?

Face, meet Palm..
 
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