Fiber Cut in CA?

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1

That is one long protect path. Yikes.

2

There be mountains in the way, with deserts in between, and not a lot
of people to justify diversity or railroads and highways to run it
along.
Not many carriers have more than one fiber route across Arizona and
New Mexico, especially for the newer high-capacity fibers (i.e. built
this millennium, after the financial excesses of the 90s.)
I'm no longer current on what routes are being used by what carriers,
but if you don't have two routes across northern Arizona ( I-10/I-40,
with restoration routes like Barstow->LasVegas->Flagstaff->Phoenix),
then the next alternative is Barstow->LasVegas->SaltLakeCity->Denver,
at which point some carriers have routes down to Phoenix via Tucumcari
or Amarillo, and the rest are going to go through Dallas, and anybody
who doesn't have the LasVegas->SLC route is going to use
Sacramento->SLC->Denver, possibly also including San Jose, depending
on what routes they've got across California.

So, yeah, instead of the nice short 2200-mile restoration routes you
can use if SF->Seattle fails, cable cuts in the Southwest can be
really long...

3

And in an open desert, back hoes can smell fiber from miles away.

4

Good point...so if the cut is in the middle of nowhere without easy
   access...then how the hell did it get cut? Malicious?
   Matt Simmons wrote:

And in an open desert, back hoes can smell fiber from miles away.

5

  Good point...so if the cut is in the middle of nowhere without easy
  access...then how the hell did it get cut? Malicious?

Some hikers were lost in the desert and tossed down some fiber, waiting for a backhoe to show up and save them, but it was confused by the scent of a much longer, juicier piece....

  Matt Simmons wrote:

And in an open desert, back hoes can smell fiber from miles away.

That is one long protect path. Yikes.

There be mountains in the way, with deserts in between, and not a lot
of people to justify diversity or railroads and highways to run it
along.
Not many carriers have more than one fiber route across Arizona and
New Mexico, especially for the newer high-capacity fibers (i.e. built
this millennium, after the financial excesses of the 90s.)
I'm no longer current on what routes are being used by what carriers,
but if you don't have two routes across northern Arizona ( I-10/I-40,
with restoration routes like Barstow->LasVegas->Flagstaff->Phoenix),
then the next alternative is Barstow->LasVegas->SaltLakeCity->Denver,
at which point some carriers have routes down to Phoenix via Tucumcari
or Amarillo, and the rest are going to go through Dallas, and anybody
who doesn't have the LasVegas->SLC route is going to use
Sacramento->SLC->Denver, possibly also including San Jose, depending
on what routes they've got across California.

So, yeah, instead of the nice short 2200-mile restoration routes you
can use if SF->Seattle fails, cable cuts in the Southwest can be
really long...
--
----
           Thanks; Bill

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References

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    --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb

6

Cross-country Fibers very often follow existing utility rights of way. So even in a wide open desert, the places the fibers go are the "busy" spots. Sometimes its train tracks, sometimes its gas pipelines, sometimes its electric, sometimes it’s a road, but very rarely is fiber like that "on its own".

So the cut was likely construction on whatever the fiber was near. The other option is that the fiber provider was actually doing maintenance (adding capacity, fixing a troubled strand) and did the damage themselves.

  -Scott

7

I believe in this case the ticket mentions it was at the site of an
"on-going water project". Contrary to what may seem logical to those not
familiar with the area, the area out that way is loaded with very
productive farm land and there are lots of aqueducts and irrigation.

Mike

8

This is actually in my service area.

There is an on-going water construction project along Interstate 8 by the Kiewit Corporation, and other entities, which are working on the All American Canal Lining Project.

http://www.iid.com/Water/AllAmericanCanalLiningProject
http://www.kiewit.com/projects/water-resources/all-american-canal.aspx

I drive by that area often and it is always very busy with workers and large machinery.