This topic

Telephone cable snagged in a tree

Buncelr — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 16:14:47 GMT

My telephone cable is snagged in a tree following recent bad weather. There is no longer any slack in the cable and the tree branches are bending it in a 45° angle.

I called openreach to report it as it is a safety risk. If that branch drops any lower or snaps, my phone line is going to snap. They said to contact the council to report it for the tree to be cut, they aren't open till Monday! I told them this and the risk that this issue posses, but they repeated to contact the council.

Is there anything else I can do, or someone else I can contact?

P.s. I tried to post a photo but it says the file is too big.

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

VeteranISPUser — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 19:11:03 GMT

Hi @Buncelr Are you a BT Retail customer?

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

Buncelr — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 19:14:32 GMT

I'm a BT customer for a private household.

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

imjolly — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 19:16:18 GMT

Who owns the tree - neighbour or council?

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

Buncelr — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 19:24:45 GMT

It's the council. I put a online query in for them to pick up on Monday already

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

imjolly — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 19:31:40 GMT

Then it is the council who need to help you with the tree and openreach will only become involved if and when you have a problem with your connection and have reported fault to BT

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

iniltous — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 19:51:01 GMT

Openreach are no going to visit preemptively and do anything, there isn’t really a mechanism to do this , if the branch is cut by the council before it breaks the cable great , unfortunately if the branch isn’t cut before it breaks the cable then all you can do is report it as and when it disrupts your service and the cable will be replaced .

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

chrisjp — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 19:54:38 GMT

I guess that it's true that Openreach won't do anything until the cable is actually broken, but that doesn't make it a sensible policy in my view.
If it's obvious that unless something is done, the cable will snap and service to the house will be lost, so why can't Openreach take preventative action? A stitch in time......

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

gg30340 — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 20:48:12 GMT

@chrisjp wrote:
I guess that it's true that Openreach won't do anything until the cable is actually broken, but that doesn't make it a sensible policy in my view.
If it's obvious that unless something is done, the cable will snap and service to the house will be lost, so why can't Openreach take preventative action? A stitch in time......

Depends on which side of the fence you are on. Why can't the council take preventative action to prevent the cable from breaking and a bill from Openreach to pay for the repair of a broken cable that one of their trees caused.

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

Buncelr — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 20:54:52 GMT

I've reported it to the council for them to pick up on Monday, but knowing them it won't be sorted for a week or 2.

It's a shame that openreach don't have any preventative action knowing the risk involved. The cable runs across a small greenspace, that is frequently visited by children/wildlife/horses/dog walkers, next to a busy crossroads and highly populated footpaths that are on route to 3 located schools. Not to mention the pub by it with drunken idiots at night. It's a recipe for disaster. And selfishly, disruption to my services if it snaps.

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

Buncelr — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 20:57:24 GMT

The cable was installed less than a year ago. If anything, BT should have checked its path through the low hanging branches.

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

tonysmini018 — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 21:24:58 GMT

Cables are routed through trees all the time. They are very limited on what tree trimming can be done when erecting a cable.

If the tree looks like it’s coming down and the cable looks to be too low, all Openreach will do is cut the cable down until the council deal with the tree, then come back and renew the span.

Do you want to be offline for that amount of time?

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

36ULW — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 13:46:40 GMT

3 Schools, a Pub, Busy Crossroads, all sorts of Wildlife, Horse Riders and multiple Drunk People.

You sure there isn’t maybe a Children’s Hospital or Retirement Home near this small Green Space as well?

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

gg30340 — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 13:52:09 GMT

@36ULW wrote:

3 Schools, a Pub, Busy Crossroads, all sorts of Wildlife, Horse Riders and multiple Drunk People.

You sure there isn’t maybe a Children’s Hospital or Retirement Home near this small Green Space as well?

🤣 😂🤣

Re: Telephone cable snagged in a tree

iniltous — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 14:08:42 GMT

BTW , BT , even if they are your provider didn’t install anything , to claim that BT should have checked the path through the tree is nonsense, if Sky were your provider would you say Sky should have checked ?

….you may feel that when Openreach installed they should have considered the future interference from the tree, but by doing what ? , they can’t cut the tree down , and it’s the case that even if they trimmed the tree branches , they will grow back anyway , so the potential problem you have ( and so far it’s not disturbed your service ) would only be deferred not removed