Who Do I Call To Remove Buried Landline Phone?

Over the years, our house gained a few additions in the technology department. It has always had electricity, but then it got a telephone line, and and so a cable line, then some other telephone line, then satellite, then another cable line to route to some other room, so on. By her 100th birthday, our house had wires, conduit, and cables on every side of her. Naturally, I wanted all of this visual ataxia gone. Afterwards all, we have a crawl infinite which is perfect for hiding this stuff - why should the exterior walls exist littered with dangly cords?

Within the first few months of moving in, we tackled the project of removing all of the nonfunctioning stuff tacked on to the outside of the firm. It's equally unproblematic as making sure you're non cutting live electric wires, snipping them at the source, giving them a yank, then patching and painting the ghost of where they once were.

The cablevision running from the crawl space, along the window, over the shingles, under the eaves, and onto the roof? Gone! (The aluminum bay window is another story, we'll be getting rid of that presently.)

The rusty satellite dish that yous could run across from the street? Gone! The pile of excess cable conduit piled adjacent to the chimney? Gone!

Cutting the Cord LITERALLY backyard conduid removed.jpg

If yous're able to look abroad from the gorgeous new door, yous tin can see simply how much cleaner it feels without all of the gunk under the eaves. Yeah? Yes.

Word of caution: Ever consult a professional if yous're messing with electrical, and always exist 10000% sure that you lot aren't cutting alive electrical lines even when you call back you're cutting not-electrical wire.

All of these were weekend projects that took very little energy just make the business firm feel fresh, clean, and similar nosotros aren't weighing her down with outdated nonsense. Yet, there were always a couple of wires that bugged me, merely I couldn't DIY myself.

Those were the ones overhead. The ones owned by the utility visitor.

Our power line is in the back of the house and hidden mostly past a big tree (more than on that here) so it doesn't problems me, especially considering we need electricity (fifty-fifty though I'd love to cut that string with solar and battery backups, only let's save that for another time). Still in the front of the house are cable and telephone lines. Seen at the elevation of the photo is the main line that runs service to the houses on my block, and from those lines are cables to our house. On the left is one wire for our cablevision cyberspace (and 5 more lines that go to our neighbour'due south business firm), and the ii on the right are for telephone.

We don't have a landline telephone at our house - not even a jack to plug ane in even if nosotros wanted to. Nor do we have a phone number, nor is it included in our cable contract. Thus, we have no need for those ii pesky lines running to the business firm.

Before I get into how we got rid of them, I want to accost the business that Instagram followers voiced when I shared this process a calendar month or so agone. Several people reached out to preach the importance of a landline in the effect of emergencies. Hardwired phone lines notwithstanding work in a power outage, they are tied to your accost so dispatch knows where you are (unlike a cell telephone), and are an all-around prophylactic net for people. I by no means am advocating for anyone to cut the lines to something that is of import for their safe!

Nonetheless, we have a domicile security organisation that provides even more peace of mind than a landline could. It works in a ability outage, the service to dispatch tin can't be physically cutting by a bad guy (unlike a landline), the alarm visitor knows the address to share with emergency responders, it has a panic push button and then I don't even need to dial or talk to someone in order to become assistance, it has a secret panic code to enter if a bad guy is watching me "disarm" while I secretly call for help, and I have multiple places throughout the business firm where I can press the panic push button. A landline volition never give me the safety that the alarm system does. Not to mention, information technology does a bunch of other things like calling the fire department if the fume detector goes off - even when I'm not home to aroma the smoke. Plus, information technology's the same if not cheaper to have security than a phone line! This isn't an advertizing for my alarm system (although we honey ours) only what I'm getting at is that I feel there are fifty-fifty amend ways to protect yourself in an emergency at abode than with a landline phone. So, I have no problem removing it.

Some other person was concerned that a future resident volition want the landlines. Just I contend that I'm not leaving for many many years, and by then, the technology volition be updated so adding new lines would exist benign anyway.

So! Back to cutting the string. I beginning identified which wires were which. The ane that turned into a coaxial cable is our cable line and shouldn't dare exist snipped, but the ii that went into a box that said "phone" and "bell systems" were the ones we could sever. However, they are owned and managed by the telephone company, and then you lot don't want to mess with them yourself. Plus, even if you disconnect them from the house, you'd demand a lift or suuuuuper tall ladder to cut the dangling wires from the main line.

I called up a couple of phone line providers in our phone surface area until I got ahold of the 1 that manages ours - AT&T. If you know your provider, you tin can save yourself time by calling but ane, merely I wasn't sure if it was AT&T or Time Warner, and so I naturally called the incorrect one first.

I spent nigh an hour on the phone with AT&T getting humans that transfered me to the wrong human in the incorrect department over and over. Later I talked to the correct gal, I asked which section I should enquire for, so I could tell all my friends (you people) to do the same. She said to call the main AT&T number, press the option for the Repair Department, mind to all of the options to click more buttons, and then but sit quietly without clicking a push button. Then you'll get a man in the repair department and all you take to do is ask them to remove the lines. Bingo Bango.

I talked to the human being in the repair department most what I wanted and they said "no problem" then scheduled someone out to cut the lines down the very next mean solar day. For complimentary!

A dude came out the very next day, took a await at the wires, called in for backup to get a truck with a taller lift, snipped the cables, then headed on his merry manner. I admired the whole production from within without having to lift a finger. Although, I did sit down on concord for an hr and later on patched holes and re-painted where the boxes in one case were. Merely other than that, not a unmarried finger lifted!