Lm: road work/“the sewer people”. Lol.

Ok, seriously. I have a question regarding public road work and sewer systems. 

I saw this: 

24” pothole required? Are we intentionally sabotaging bad drivers now?

Truth in advertising?

(probably meant to write manhole but if the shoe fits...)

A “pothole” is a exploratory hole dug by hand to locate underground utilities before any machine digging is permitted. 

That’s an instruction from a locator service to the excavating crew. 

In reply to _ :

deep state.. 24" deep state to be exact.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Lmao!

BTW...

More specifically, there is an electric line underneath there. 

The red paint shows the location of the electric line. 

Turquoise is not an APWA Uniform Color Code.  It doesn’t indicate anything official. The turquoise paint is the proposed dig line for the trench.

24” is the margin of error for the locating service. The guy is saying, “Don’t trust my red line. It could potentially be off by (+-) 12”. You need to hand dig a full 24” wide to be safe, and insure you don’t hit the electric line”.

But that’s too much E36 M3 to write with spray paint!!  Lol!

Pothole digs can also be done with air excavation ( actually it’s a vacuum)

An embarrassing portion of this work is for fiber installations that ultimately only help basement-dwelling neckbeards.

Most of us are just fine with our Internet service. If you're trying to become internationally ranked in some blood-and-guts computer game, or stream pornography at 10,000 lines per frame, though, then you'll gladly tear up miles of asphalt for a few extra bits per second.

Should absolutely be better-regulated.

In reply to b13990 :

You’re right, but utilities have learned that infrastructure becomes a standard, which leads to more revenues. 

Today only geeky computer nerds care about blah, blah bandwidth, but tomorrow once the infrastructure is in place, EVERYONE’S bill can be increased, and the utility makes a killing. 

There was a time when we had an awesome phone system called “The Bell System”. The standard was a residential phone line that cost the average user about $20 per month (plus long distance)

That company was deemed a monopoly, and dismantled. 

Now we have a completely different technological standard. Wireless, cell phones, high speed data. I don’t disagree that the system is MUCH better, but it’s become a standard. My cell phone bill for my household is now over $250 per month. (And I don’t have anything that fancy)

My $20 phone bill adjusted for inflation should be $39.68. Instead I pay $250, because that’s “normal”. 

The issue is consumerism, not regulation.  

b13990 said:

An embarrassing portion of this work is for fiber installations that ultimately only help basement-dwelling neckbeards.

Most of us are just fine with our Internet service. If you're trying to become internationally ranked in some blood-and-guts computer game, or stream pornography at 10,000 lines per frame, though, then you'll gladly tear up miles of asphalt for a few extra bits per second.

Should absolutely be better-regulated.

You are absolutely correct sir. I've been pissed off with those contractors for years, yeah I'm talking about you Dixon Cable. I also notice that the plan is rip open a road that was recently paved and had a bike lane and new curb installed, way to go guys great coordination.

b13990 said:

An embarrassing portion of this work is for fiber installations that ultimately only help basement-dwelling neckbeards.

Most of us are just fine with our Internet service. If you're trying to become internationally ranked in some blood-and-guts computer game, or stream pornography at 10,000 lines per frame, though, then you'll gladly tear up miles of asphalt for a few extra bits per second.

Ha ha ha ha. No. Roll back 15 years and imagine this statement. We were just fine with our Internet service because we no longer had to suffer through dial-up. Now think about what a typical household "consumes" in bandwidth today - multiple video streams, audio streams, software as a service, cloud backups. If there's a bigger pipe, we'll find a use for it.

SVreX, how much would a plain ol' wall phone cost today? It's not so much consumerism as you're taking advantage of things you didn't have before. Those cellphones walk around and show video and share pictures to Instagram. If you just want to call Grandma (and pay by the minute for the long distance), that option's still there. You've just decided not to limit yourself to it.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Point taken. 

But in my city, it’s not an option. Providers don’t offer basic service plans. 

Are you sure about that? They may not advertise it, but I'm pretty sure they're required to. It might be voip instead of copper POTS, but that's just how the signal is sent.

I think I hit one of those 24" potholes Sat . morning.

Cost me a tire.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I searched. Never found anyone who would do it. 

A plain old wall phone is $80/month here from AT&T.  At least it was 4 years ago when I moved, I didn't bother to keep the service so I don't have it any more.

I'm not sure where your $39 figure comes from.  Ma Bell was broken up in 1983, and $20 then is $51 now.

Also keep in mind that that $20 only covered local calls, and anything more than about 15-20 miles away you paid per minute, either as long distance or extended local.

In reply to codrus :

Yup. 

Even using your numbers, you are still making my point. 

Inflation SHOULD mean the same service that was offered in 1983 for $20 now costs $51, but it doesn’t. It costs $80 (a 64% increase above the inflation number).

The infrastructure enables them to create bigger revenues. They can sell their basic service for 64% more than they would have, PLUS upsell 95% of their customers to more expensive services. 

The STANDARD of service has changed, because of the available infrastructure. 

Your numbers are saying the exact same thing as mine. 

Verizon offers a plan with unlimited talk time for $30/mo. If you don't have a phone already, you can get one for under $5/mo. $35/mo for a phone that isn't tied to the wall and (I believe) also includes free long distance across the US. There are some undisclosed taxes and fees on that, but I'll bet it still comes in as competitive with the 1983 cost even with the extra features.

So maybe things aren't worse after all :)

Back to the original complaint - infrastructure work is a fact of life. It would be great if it were more closely scheduled so that the paving happens after the fiber is run, but that's a lot harder than it sounds, especially when you're dealing with different road ownership. When I drive to work, I drive on roads that are owned/maintained by the state, the county and the city. There's stuff underneath that belongs to the water company, the gas company, the phone company, the sewer guys, the flood control guys, the electricity company and I'm sure several network groups. I'm sure I've forgotten something. So yeah, stuff isn't coordinated.

Also, I used the term potholing this weekend when talking to my wife about the deck we're planning. She's in road construction, that's a normal term around here :)

Google offers unlimited talk and text for $20/month. I typically use about ~1gb of data on the network, so my average phone bill is ~$27-30/month. WiFi is just too prevalent, and my Pixel 2 automatically creates a VPN if I hookup to a non-secure WiFi connection. 

I know plenty of people that pay a ton more because they finance their phones, are addicted to using tons of data, etc. 

It's all about choices. 

To say the increasing the data capacity of the infrastructure has little purpose is pretty silly.

What might be seen as silly in a few years is the fact that they are ripping up the streets to add capacity to a few houses at a time.  Once 5G hits (years off, if the anit-vax crowd doesn't kill it), they can hit a number of houses with a small transmitter, that should be as fast as your current cable (this probably will involve some digging though).  Probably sooner (if you are in the southern parts of the states), you will likely get an option of getting high speed data (up and down) from low earth orbit satellites (one of the options is coming from Mr M, he has a lot of rockets you know), which will be huge for those in rural areas.

Interesting info about the markings SVrex.

PS -  I have a cell phone plan from T-mobile that is $4 a month!  Yes, no data, and very limited uses (then pay by use)  Hard to find, but it is out there.  Depends on what you want to pay for.

I don't expect that 5G will be faster than wired options (especially fiber-to-the-home) in the long term, especially since 5G has a shorter range than most cellular data technologies. 5G is already slower than fiber because fiber is the fastest thing in the world to move data over and is how the 5G towers will get their data.

FTTH is a very helpful and futureproof technology to install, and the US needs it more than any other first-world country. I expect that in the future, the most common home Internet connection types will be FTTH in more built-up areas and LEO satellite Internet out in the sticks.

In reply to z31maniac :

Hello fellow Fi user! My bill is the same as yours, and it works internationally for the same price. Awesome when I can afford to go somewhere far away.

SVreX said:

A “pothole” is a exploratory hole dug by hand to locate underground utilities before any machine digging is permitted. 

That’s an instruction from a locator service to the excavating crew. 

 I have dug those before. With a backhoe. Under direct instruction of a foreman and a superintendent that were in a hurry. I don't care how gentle you are, it's almost impossible to not nick a direct burial line that is buried in 30 year old ROC. 

500 MCM with 480V running through it makes a hell of a bang when you ground it into a backhoe bucket. It will melt the teeth on the bucket as well. 

Someone got their ass chewed over that one. (Not Me)

In reply to Toyman01 :

I agree, but it doesn’t change what the law says, or what those markings mean. 

In reply to SVreX :

But it will nearly kill you when the utilities. kiddie-corner a line through a never developed farm field and neglect to tell anyone because they are lazy and the act itself is unlawful.  Location services only locate were things are supposed to be. Undeveloped, virgin fields are undeveloped and virgin, right?

Ask me how I saw the ground glow white and Jesus at the same time.