[asterisk-users] Dry Copper Pair

[Anselm Martin Hoffmeister]

Am Freitag, den 11.05.2007, 18:44 -0400 schrieb Jon Pounder:
> just out of curiousity - anyone ever hijack pairs and get away with it ?
> (do your own cross connects on the street and utilize some crossconnect
> all within one branch of F1 cable out of the CO ?)
> 
> I've been tempted in the past, and know that at least around here I would
> probably get away with it for quite some time before anyone actually cared
> enough to investigate.

I know a setup where some kind of "cable hijacking" took place. A small
office nearby had a regular ISDN/BRI line, with a small PBX and two or
three analogue phones on it locally. One of the PBX extensions was
connected to another telco copper pair (small houses usually have
between 2 and about 16 pairs into the basement, depending on when the
cable was laid), which led back to the Telco and came out at the office
chief's home second copper pair, 30 meters away, other side of the
street.

I have been told that his predecessor had a son working for the
then-German (in the 80s) Post office.... ;-)

Pityfully this "solution" disappeared when a truck ran down the telco
switchbox while reversing, must have been in 2002 or 2003. Just
disconnected that 1 meter tall grey cupboard from the ground, leaving
lots of cables dangling.... and while recabling, they (telco) obviously
did not care to reconnect that "special local exchange".

The solution was to buy a DECT repeater and wireless handset, works like
a charm in this situation.

I have to admit I did not research this in full, but I assume that
tampering with the "Post" property would have given you a night in jail
- or left you without a job or pension plan, in this case, if you were
caught. With deregulation, this probably softened a bit. Nowadays my
impression is that the repair technicians are out-sourced service guys
with a too-tight schedule - do not touch anything that is not necessary
to be touched, because that might take time to be fixed or cost
reimbursements or whatever. Documentation of cabling is existant (well,
we are in Germany, after all): as it seems, it has been filed in a
basement cupboard, locked, in an unused toilet room, guarded by wild
dogs... at least service people tend to not have access to line
whereabouts documentation, and no intention to ask too much questions.
If the installation works, they just let it be.

BTW this reminded me of these two BOFH episodes:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/25/bofh_2005_episode_7/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/11/13/bofh_lights_out_for_contractors/

BR
Anselm