Here in Vanderburgh County, Astound, Spectrum, and AT&T are the primary internet and landline telephone providers in the area. Most of their wires and lines are hung on telephone poles owned by Centerpoint. Centerpoint leases space on their poles to the different communication providers. In some places, they bury the communication lines in the ground. In other places they hang them on utility poles. It really depends on where you are and what neighborhood you are in that is the deciding factor on where the lines will be deployed.
The communication lines that are hung on the telephone poles have changed over the years. Back, not so long ago, MaBell would have bundles of wires that they would wrap up inside of bundle. They often buried these lines where they could but some were hung from the poles.
Today, the most common communication cables found on utility poles are copper or fiber optic cable (FOC) for telephone lines and coaxial cable for cable television (CATV). The cable linking the telephone exchange to local customers is a thick cable lashed to a thin supporting cable, containing hundreds of twisted pair wires often referred to as subscriber lines. Each twisted pair line provides a single telephone circuit or a local loop to a customer. Copper and twisted pair lines are now considered legacy technology because of the newer fiber lines going up and into neighborhoods. As a result, AT&T and the other providers simply abandon the old technology on the utility poles and in the ground. Creating a sight that looks unkept, uncared for, and obviously out-of-order.
(ABOVE: Abandoned twisted pair telephone lines dangle from a pole.)
(ABOVE: An outdoor NEMA enclosure that houses junctions and sometimes electronics is duct taped to a telephone pole.)
(ABOVE: Over a dozen abandoned lines hang from a pole. )
When you call AT&T or the other local providers for them to come out to clean up the downed wires, they will not do so unless you are calling about your house or there is an active service address with an active account that needs to have a line moved, removed, or added.
(ABOVE: A pair of abandoned lines that a neighbor rolled up and hung on a fence)
Most communcation providers are not interested when there is an address with no current service(s) with them.
What may be more alarming is that AT&T was known to wrap their subscriber lines in bundles with a lead sheath around them. Lead is a known metal that helps to stop or absorb radio interference. It was a sought after product in the 1950’s before we became aware of the dangers of lead poisoning. This fact did not stop a group from trying to file a class action lawsuit against AT&T for the lead that they say is now leaking from these abandoned lines. The judge eventually threw out the case and said that they would need to file lawsuits against AT&T individually.
One might be so inclined to contact the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. However, this Curmudgeon has tried. This Curmudgeon has discovered that they do not provide any real oversight of Indiana Utilities.
This Curmudgeon asks, how many lines have been abandoned in Evansville? In Indiana?