This was originally sent out as our August 2019 Telecommunications Newsletter
I. Thousands lose internet after third-party damage
On July 3, the internet was down all day in heavily populated areas of Raleigh-Durham, NC, Morrisville, NC, and Charleston, SC.
A third party caused the widespread damages affecting customers of Comcast, Verizon and Wow! The damages affected area residents and businesses alike, including various telehealth sites and the Charleston SC, 911 call center.
The physical damages were the result of multiple damaged fiber bundles necessitating extensive repairs.
II. Mitigate the Risk and Improve Network Reliability
Damages to communications cables can be costly, and seldom are the true cost of damages recovered. To reduce the risk of 3rd party damages and improve network reliability, deploy a comprehensive permanent marking system to warn excavators to the presence of buried facilities. Beyond financial losses, damage to the corporate brand can mount when customer’s service is interrupted, regardless who is at fault.
In suburban and rural areas, well maintained and highly visible permanent markers can act like your last line of defense. The most recent DIRT Report shows 25,000 damages caused by facilities that were not located or mislocated. A permanent marker will reduce that significant risk.
In heavily populated areas where above ground markers are not practical, soil markers or curb markers will help identify approximate locations of underground assets and alert excavators.
There is a great deal of competition in the communications industry today. Reducing the number of 3rd party damages will improve network reliability, improve customer experience, and save valuable company resources.
III. Hall of Shame: Marking Failures from Around the World
Yikes … safe to say this marker is pretty dang worthless. We can assume this post was hit by a mower, and probably because he couldn’t see the 2-dimensional profile from the side. We have a couple solutions:
a) To prevent damaged posts like this, use our incredibly durableTriView® marker. It has superior visibility and can withstand repeated impacts.
b) To replace a flat marker like this, you should deploy one of our TriView XL marker posts. It was specifically made to retrofit flat posts and installation takes seconds.
IV. Must Watch
The summer heat is starting to get to us. Anyone else feeling nostalgic for winter? If you don’t miss those glorious days of high windchill and dead car batteries, maybe our TriView Impact on a Frozen Lake will get you back in the winter spirit!
The Inside Scoop: News from the Rhino Office
Overheard: “They taste like sweat.” – Tom Preston, Damage Prevention Consultant and office beer snob when describing Coors Light.
On the Road: We’ll be at the ISE show coming up next month in Fort Worth, TX. Stop by booth 721 if you’d like to see some awesome products, hear some average jokes, or get a few golf tips from Tom.
You Can’t Make This Up: Serious damages can be caused by excavators, backhoes, horizontal drilling, and … 75-year old ladies. This story is from 2011 but we couldn’t resist re-sharing it now.
