Copper thieves target phone lines

Image credit: Pixabay

KHOU-11’s Leigh Frillici provides an update on the latest brazen area copper thievery:

Last week, copper thieves climbed up telephone poles and took the wire. Leaving an entire neighborhood without phone service.

After 11 News first reported the thefts, the phone company quickly got out there, replaced all the stolen wire, and restored phone service. Thing is, the thieves have done it again.

Katie Stillwell’s journal traces her daily life and you can track her phone troubles there are well.

After having lost her phone service because of copper thieves, the phone started ringing again on Feb. 28. But that was just the beginning of her phone problems

Phone service went down again on Monday, and according to her journal her last call came in at 11:29 a.m. on March 17.

And Stillwell is not the only AT&T customer experiencing problems

The phone company said that the lines along Westmount Houston have been cut three times. Cutting service to about 1,000 people.

The phone company believes thieves are after the copper in the wires. This time, someone stole about 400 feet of the cable.

Maybe Council could pass an ordinance requiring the phone company to maintain surveillance cameras on its phone lines (extending the convenience-store camera ordinance logic)?

UPDATE: Er, I missed Anne Linehan’s earlier post on the topic (traveling). Sorry for the repeat!


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