Hi All
At one time I lived in an apartment complex in Plantation, FL. As the
maintenance manager was a friend of myself and my not being busy many times I
had a tendency to help him when he had difficult jobs that required 2 people
to do. One day working on the roof with my friend I observed the local cable
company company install the then new cable system for the apartment complex.
The first item of business was to search out and find the existing antenna
based complex cable system and cut the cables so that it was non functional
to such an extent that it was non repairable. This of coursed forced people
to buy cable.
A couple of years roil by and at the time working on a PhD I had no TV as I
found programming to silly to watch. Still don't for that matter. Anyway
arriving home one day I an accosted by the manager of the local cable company
for stealing their precious signal. It seems that the cable company had just
assumed that everybody was going to get cable TV so they had wired all
apartments to receive the signal regardless of weather that apartment
subscribed or not. Thus since my apartment was wired to receive cable TV
according to the cable company I was stealing their signal even though I did
NOT own a TV. The fact that I did not own a TV to them was irrelevant to
them. The simple fact that their representative had connected my apartment to
their system meant that I was stealing their signal. As far as the fact that
their representatives had gone around cutting up the existing antenna system
cables only meant that I was a liar.
So, to answer your question do cable companies and telephone companies do
things like that . YES!!
Frank
On Sunday 04 September 2005 08:43 am, Bill Shaw wrote:
> Of course it's cheaper. On a smaller scale satellite installers do it to
> cable companies and vice versa all the time. They get paid per job so why
> waste an hour+ laying your own cable when you can cut the competitors and
> move on to the next job.
>
> On 9/4/05, Paul M Foster <paulf@quillandmouse.com> wrote:
> > On Sun, Sep 04, 2005 at 12:43:58AM -0400, Bill Glidden wrote:
> >
> >
> > I wonder if Verizon simply decided it would be quicker and cheaper to
> > cut other people's cables, rather than take the time to route
> > over/under/around them. I'm not begin facetious. I've heard no end of
> > stories like this.
> >
> > When I wanted to do some digging in my yard, I was told that I _must_
> > call the central agency that informs all the various entities with
> > underground service. The companies are supposed to come out within some
> > short time frame and put flags and paint down to show where their
> > cables/pipes are. I was also told that if I dig without doing so and cut
> > something, there's a penalty/fine. Me, a lowly homeowner. I wonder if
> > Verizon and others like them are exempt, or if they simply find it
> > cheaper/faster to cut them anyway. They could be just grossly inept, but
> > at some point it begins to look like they're doing it on purpose.
> >
> > Paul
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