A Buried Cable Breakdown and the Power of Persistence

Story told by Michael Walther, fiber blowing tech

When 26 customers suddenly lost their internet — with no digging or construction going on nearby — we knew we had a real mystery on our hands. This wasn’t a quick fix. It felt more like solving a crime scene.

Our first clue came from an OTDR test, which showed the fault was about 170 meters from the cabinet. With a weak tone on the tracer, we followed the cable route step by step using a locator and a measuring wheel. Everything pointed to that spot — but above ground, nothing looked out of place.

Right as we were about to start digging, a homeowner came by and mentioned he’d just put in a new fence. Something clicked. We dug right there — and bingo. A ground anchor had been driven straight through the duct, cutting the cable clean.

Turns out, the homeowner probably didn’t request a cable locate before digging. The conduit had been installed years ago when the property layout was slightly different. A simple oversight turned into a big (and expensive) problem.

Restoring Connectivity: From Fault to Full Service

With the mystery solved, the real work began. Since the focus was on getting the cabinet up and running as quickly as possible, we made use of the spare duct that had been installed alongside the damaged one. We rolled out our Jetting V2 and selected clamps for 40 mm ducts. About bout five minutes after we started rigging, the cable was already on its way.

We started with 2 bar of pressure to lift the cable slightly, since it was a lightweight 8 mm cable in a fairly large 32 mm inner diameter duct. Given the low fill ratio and a relatively short distance of about 1300 meters, I judged the risk of backpressure to be low.

At 2 bar, we got through the first 400 meters, though speed dropped from 155 m/min to 65 m/min. We upped the pressure to 6 bar, which brought the speed back up to 145 m/min. Just before reaching the destination, I reduced the speed to 30 m/min so the splicing technician had time to manage the cable as it arrived. From the moment we began setup to when all the equipment was back in the van, just 35 minutes had passed.

Once service was restored to all 26 customers, we went back and repaired the damaged duct, blew out the broken cable, and restored the site to its original state — one good cable in service, and an empty spare ready for future needs.

This incident was a powerful reminder of a crucial best practice: Always call before you dig! A simple, free cable locate request can prevent significant outages, costly repairs, and major headaches for everyone involved.

Stay tuned for more real-world stories from the field.