[Leica] [OM] IMG: Around the Home Place

[Jim Nichols]

Thanks for your comments, Chris.  Our poles are shared, as well. I just 
shot the top part.  In the last few years, our local utility company has 
added optical fiber, as well, so I now have fiber right to my house, 
providing telephone and internet service.

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA

On 11/11/2016 1:38 AM, Christopher Crawford wrote:
> Cables on poles are still very common in the USA. My father is retired
> from GTE, which was the phone company here in Fort Wayne (It is now part
> of Verizon). He was manager of construction for GTE for all of northeast
> Indiana. He told me that poles here often carry electric, telephone, and
> cable TV all on the same pole. The utilities have agreements to share
> poles.
>
> In the older parts of Fort Wayne, everything is still on poles. In newer
> areas, everything is buried. They¹re gradually moving the old stuff to
> underground because the poles need to be replaced periodically and they
> are getting expensive. In addition to poles simply wearing out from age, a
> HUGE number are replaced before the end of their normal service life
> because idiots get drunk and drive cars into them, breaking them.
>
> Each pole is a single pine tree! In the past, the poles were cheap, so the
> utilities didn¹t mind using them. It was easier than burying cable. That¹s
> changing now.
>