DIY telephone line repair - good or bad idea?

opm

Arrived home yesterday to find that the physical cable that should be going from the roof eave of my house to the telephone pole across the road is now sitting in my garden, so we've no telephone/broadband. It's still connected at my side, but seems to have come loose from the far side, rather than having been severed by a passing tractor or similar.

Can't contact eir about it until tomorrow (Mon) and then it'll probably be a few days before they send anyone out. I have a ladder, multimeter, and optimism. Should I have a go a reconnecting the cable to the pole with some help from people here, or do you think I should leave it alone and call eir in the morning?

DopeTech

Stay away from it. Leave it to the professionals.

lawred2

opm wrote: »

Arrived home yesterday to find that the physical cable that should be going from the roof eave of my house to the telephone pole across the road is now sitting in my garden, so we've no telephone/broadband. It's still connected at my side, but seems to have come loose from the far side, rather than having been severed by a passing tractor or similar.

Can't contact eir about it until tomorrow (Mon) and then it'll probably be a few days before they send anyone out. I have a ladder, multimeter, and optimism. Should I have a go a reconnecting the cable to the pole with some help from people here, or do you think I should leave it alone and call eir in the morning?

What do you think?

Fighting Tao

Common sense says to stay away from it. However, it could make an interesting entry into the Darwin Awards due to the fact it’s a local entry.

opm

Fighting Tao wrote: »

Common sense says to stay away from it. However, it could make an interesting entry into the Darwin Awards due to the fact it’s a local entry.

:-) Thanks for that vote of confidence :-)

my3cents

When I used to work in tree surgery we used to take the individual lines down all the time and put them back afterwards just because it was too complicated getting the phone company linesman out. Its only a pair of copper wires connected to a terminal block, it doesn't even matter which way around the wires go. If its a multicore cable for a single phone then its the blue and blue and white pairs that are normally used but if pairs get damaged any other pair can be used.

You'd have to swan dive headfirst off ladders onto concrete to get a Darwin Award, the wires themselves only carry about 50V but its enough to cause a spark if you short them out.

That said the Eir should get the line fixed in two working days otherwise you can claim back (iirc) a months line rental, but its not an automatic payment you have to get on to them to get it.

opm

my3cents wrote: »

When I used to work in tree surgery we used to take the individual lines down all the time and put them back afterwards just because it was too complicated getting the phone company linesman out. Its only a pair of copper wires connected to a terminal block, it doesn't even matter which way around the wires go. If its a multicore cable for a single phone then its the blue and blue and white pairs that are normally used but if pairs get damaged any other pair can be used.

You'd have to swan dive headfirst off ladders onto concrete to get a Darwin Award, the wires themselves only carry about 50V but its enough to cause a spark if you short them out.

That said the Eir should get the line fixed in two working days otherwise you can claim back (iirc) a months line rental, but its not an automatic payment you have to get on to them to get it.

Thanks for taking the time for that reply, much appreciated.

Daylight revealed that the wire has been severed, must have been a passing truck/tractor with a high load. The electric wires crossing the road a feet feet away are only slightly higher!