Vandals reduce fiber-optic strains, inflicting outage for Spectrum Web subscribers

Over the previous twenty years, copper theft has emerged as a serious downside in industries spanning plumbing, phone and Web connectivity, and others counting on the fabric, which is an efficient conductor of electrical energy and as soon as offered at low costs. In 2008, the FBI warned that copper theft threatened your entire US infrastructure. In earlier a long time, copper was extensively used, partially due to its comparatively low worth. As copper costs rose, thieves started stealing it. The abundance of the metallic in distant and unsurveilled environments scattered throughout the nation made it a tempting goal for thieves.

In 2015, AT&T reported that the reducing of a 1,200-foot run of fiber line disrupted service, requiring 192 strains to be re-fused. AT&T did not say whether or not the folks accountable merely needed to disrupt AT&T companies or in the event that they mistakenly believed there was copper within the infrastructure they broken.

Final yr, AT&T mentioned it was scrapping its copper-based networks and changing them with fiber ones. The corporate cited a number of causes, together with the continued theft of the metallic strains.

Apart from providing the $25,000 reward, Spectrum additionally mentioned it’s working with police to apprehend the suspects behind the newest incident of vandalism.