August 23, 2004
Stealing Dial Tone
Had a trouble ticket for the Airport Central Office -- one of the Spectralink wireless phones on the frame is not working. This system was put in by Grace and Lee. Lee retired, Grace is on vacation, I am up a creek.
May not know anything about it, but I grab the book and go to fix it anyhow. Fortunately it was already fixed by Doug. Unfortunately he didn't fix their other trouble, a no dial tone. They said Doug had left off tracing in the basement. Mumbled something about a short, not that I was paying attention. Go down to the basement, find the line, verify the number, trace to pair two of a tie cable going upstairs. Upstairs I find the tie cable, jumper lifted off pair two. Verify number. Punch down the jumper. Try to verify again but the jumper has a short on it. Lift it off again.
This jumper is not really a jumper, it is not the cross-connect wire used by OCS. It is four conductor frame wire. Instead of being a jumper from one block to another it is run up the cables to the overhead cable racks. 
Secured by twists of more frame wire. Noone in OCS would ever do such a poor job -- this was run by someone else in violation of company and union rules.
Tracing the wire up on the rack it runs a hundred feet or so and disappears. Ladder handy, I climb up and find a wad of frame wire -- the cat-3 that I had been tracing and the newer cat-5 replacement. spliced together with old-style beans. Trace this new frame wire about eighty feet more where it drops down to this cable test position 
that is sitting near the frame. Whoever owns this is the one who stole the Frames' dial tone and who has cost the company a few hundred dollars in OCS time trying to find and correct their theft. 
Head upstairs to the second floor, find the SpectraLink equipment, find the installer's note and configuration sheets. Cannot find my telephone number I am working on. This is one of the lines that did not move to the wireless phones. Back to the frame, look at an old KTS 10-button set, find my line. With no dial tone.
Return to the backboard, scan the KTS equipment, find the unit marked with my telephone number. Has a jumper to feed it dial tone -- hanging loose. It reaches to the tie cable, I punch it down on pair two, clip to pair one and call the frame. They answer, trouble fixed.
Except to finding out who stole my dial tone and filing a grievence against them. I don't need to have people trying to do my job and screwing up and causing the frame to lose thier phone service. And causing many hours of needless needless work for the trouble reporting center and our dispatch center and me and my crewmates.
Not to mention I really have work to do at the Torrance Call Center that I have been putting off -- checking a position on the Verint system and moving another.
Posted by at August 23, 2004 09:57 PM