VRAD's

**Goldenboy** · June 4th, 2008, 10:58 PM

So how many people here in AT&T areas have went through the installation of VRAD's in their area. They hit my area real hard last year then I got a break for a while. Now they are calling in tons of crap VRADs again. These tickets average about 3000 feet long each. They are all in the worst areas because they have to run fiber from the XBox to a manhole.

For those of you who haven't got to enjoy the start of project lightspeed here's what you have to look forward to.

**TBONE** · June 4th, 2008, 11:01 PM

I have only had two so far this year

**yahoo** · June 4th, 2008, 11:03 PM

when att does their own work here we do not have to locate ....thank God.. but yes we are seeing this regular here...... att want's to spend the money here with all that federal hurricane money they got 2 years ago......how's those leads brother????

**beyond help** · June 4th, 2008, 11:08 PM

I have done approx 1000 of these installation tickets so far in 3 yrs. WHAT A PAIN IN THE @$$.

The only good thing is that you know how everything runs after the installation is done. First you get a ticket fot the pad installations, then the fiber, then the copper, and finally the electric. 4 tickets for each v-rad. BTW, the marks are wiped out each time. Also, they will call in as a restake each time (be there in 2 hrs). They believe that because we are AT&T subcontractors, we are their personal staking

.

**underground quester** · June 4th, 2008, 11:18 PM

This morning I saw an installation crew in my area working a new pit. I always stop to enquire what the heck they are doing.

Well, they were installing a new V-RAD, crossconnect, a manhole and 2 telephone peds in a 12 foot x 12 foot area. I will take a photo tomorrow and upload it to show all the ducting running between them. It was an absolute cluster____!!

**beyond help** · June 4th, 2008, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by underground quester

This morning I saw an installation crew in my area working a new pit. I always stop to enquire what the heck they are doing.

Well, they were installing a new V-RAD, crossconnect, a manhole and 2 telephone peds in a 12 foot x 12 foot area. I will take a photo tomorrow and upload it to show all the ducting running between them. It was an absolute cluster____!!

This is the future of locating boys and girls.

**Goldenboy** · June 4th, 2008, 11:31 PM

Here all the work is done under one ticket. The same company does all the prep work,pours the concrete, installs the copper and fiber, and runs an empty duct to a pole or ped so the electric company can just pull a secondary through.

**Mr Blunderbuss** · June 5th, 2008, 07:52 PM

V-rads started showing up in my area just over a year ago. When I was locating ATT, they weren't too bad. After I left, some of the locates did get worse. Fortunately, they aren't in my area.

**Goldenboy** · June 5th, 2008, 10:31 PM

They have finished all my easy crossboxes already. Now they moved on to the real long and real crappy ones. The one I'm working on now is well over 7000 feet and runs down one of the worst roads in my area. It's actually a good candidate for the most congested area thread.

**Mr Blunderbuss** · June 9th, 2008, 07:39 AM

The worst part about the vrads was the contractor doing the work. Back in January they called in several tickets for different locations; the worst of which took 5 techs 5 hours to complete. Turns out, they weren't going to start work until MARCH!!! Their office would get the prints and just automatically call for locates, regardless of when work was starting. EVERYONE including the supervisor was p***ed. We cleared out the rest of the tickets without putting a drop of paint on the ground after informing ATT what had been going on. We had been having problems with this same contractor calling crew-on-site relos on Fridays only to arrive to do the locate with no crew on site. As such, we would have to wait until Monday to find out what was needed only to find out that there was STILL no crew on site on Monday!

**Goldenboy** · June 9th, 2008, 07:45 AM

The VRAD job I am working on right now is almost 2 miles long. I have been working on it for over a week and have had quite a bit of help on it. I'm guessing we have well over 80 hours into the job and it's only half done.

Like Mr. Blunderbuss said the contractor is making it hard for me. I know this job will take the contractor at least a month to complete because of the shitty ground and abundance of existing utilities. If the contractor would let me know which end they were starting from I could just get ahead of them and keep working with them.

**underground quester** · June 9th, 2008, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by Goldenboy

The VRAD job I am working on right now is almost 2 miles long. I have been working on it for over a week and have had quite a bit of help on it. I'm guessing we have well over 80 hours into the job and it's only half done.

Like Mr. Blunderbuss said the contractor is making it hard for me. I know this job will take the contractor at least a month to complete because of the shitty ground and abundance of existing utilities. If the contractor would let me know which end they were starting from I could just get ahead of them and keep working with them.

I had a job in a newer neighbourhood that was about a mile long. Had to do all the utilities (except CATV) Power, traffic, gas, telephone duct and 900 pair in separate trenches, water, drainage. Took me several days because I also had to do all services to each house.

Then nothing. No work, no re-new locate request nothing, for several months. Then one day I get the ticket again and groan.

So, I asked the contractor. Seems the contractor and the Telephone company were poring over the locate and determining their NEW alignment. They wanted a locate done so they could see where everything was, then they changed alignments. So, had to re-do the locate.

Did this three more times before the work was finally completed. The alignment now looks like a Snakes and ladders game going out onto the street, then between the curb and split sidewalk, at times under the walk and in a few places between p/l and the public walk.

Is it possible Golden this is what your contractor/phone company is up to???
Just a thought.

**Mr Blunderbuss** · June 9th, 2008, 08:15 PM

There are some tickets that come in calling for locates around cross-boxes. These are usually done by an engineering firm working for ATT who wants to know where their cables are buried as well as any other utilities in the area. This is how I find out a v-rad is going to be installed, eventually.

**Goldenboy** · June 9th, 2008, 08:42 PM

I did have multiple planning purposes for this long job last year. I finally got ahold of the contractor and they will be on site tomorrow. Lets just hope they are starting from the same end I started from.

The bad thing is they are installing all this fiber and all the houses are fed from old 1960's aircore lines. These lines won't support the U-verse so they'll wind up replacing the copper later. I just wish they'd think ahead and pull a new copper back with the fiber instead of waiting and just creating more trenches.

**sprayandpray** · June 9th, 2008, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by Goldenboy

I did have multiple planning purposes for this long job last year. I finally got ahold of the contractor and they will be on site tomorrow. Lets just hope they are starting from the same end I started from.

The bad thing is they are installing all this fiber and all the houses are fed from old 1960's aircore lines. These lines won't support the U-verse so they'll wind up replacing the copper later. I just wish they'd think ahead and pull a new copper back with the fiber instead of waiting and just creating more trenches.

Why would a telephone engineer do that? That would mean 1 less job for him to re-engineer next year. Job security is what it's all about.