Was working the other day at house I upgraded the service at a few years ago. I happened to look over at the bonding bridge and noticed the phone or cable company had snipped their ground wire at the "bridge" and split bolted it to the GEC. I wish I had taken a picture.
I don't understand why we are required to install IBB's if none of the other "systems" are going to be told to use them. It's not as if it's new, been installing them for 4 or 5 years now (at least).
I hope the POCO rep comes to our next EC association meeting so I an ask them if they have any way of "getting the word out" to the phone/cable/satellite companies.
Crap installation practices like this happen because the installer has little to no training, and absolutely no requirement for licensing. Something similar happened at my parents' house several years ago when they had switched from the local cable company to ATT U-verse.
The "installer" had draped phone and coax cabling tight across the PANEL COVER, grounded his "install" under a sheetmetal screw that was put into the cinderblock wall with a PLASTIC anchor :jawdrop:, and had anchored the ATT backup power supply to the wall with a single screw. It swung back and forth like a pendulum.
The house is wired for Ethernet and the lines terminate in a patch panel in the basement. He cut the Ethernet out of the patch panel :rant: and ScotchLok-ed to the wires to place the modem upstairs. Same thing on the other end of that Ethernet run upstairs. I'm lucky there was enough slack on both ends to re- punch down the run.
When I came home for Thanksgiving that year, it took me half a day to correct the mess that moron had made. My parents were, thankfully, able to backcharge ATT for the cost of the repair materials.
Communications installers often have no more training than a one day "class." They have no technical background, and little understanding of how the equipment they install actually works. I believe there should be a push for a legal requirement that these installers be licensed, and their work inspected, just like electricians' work. Coms and LV wiring are becoming a a bigger and bigger part of homes' systems. They need to be installed with the same rigor as any other trade's work.
SceneryDriver