Telus is investigating how one of its cross-connect boxes was left open for approximately three weeks in an area they say is typically inspected once a week.
The problem came to light after Deer Ridge resident Doug Perry was out walking his dog near Deerbourne Park roughly three weeks ago and came across the unlocked, open box full of wires where Deerbourne Drive intersects with Delbrook Boulevard. When he walked his dog again two days later, he noticed it was still unlocked. So he tried to call.
"I thought I'd do my good deed," Perry said, but found it difficult to convey the message to the overseas call centre attendant who answered his call. As the days went on, Perry noticed the problem still wasn't remedied, at one point even coming across a city public works employee who was trying to get in touch with someone at Telus without success. Perry tried Telus one more time two weeks ago yesterday and, when he noticed this week the problem was still unresolved, he contacted the Gazette.
According to Perry, it appeared the padlock had been snapped shut around only one of the hasps that would lock it together.
The Gazette contacted Telus' director of media relations Jim Johannsson, who called back Thursday afternoon saying an employee had visited the location and finally locked the cross-connect.
"It's a bit confusing because it's a location where we generally have someone in there once a week, so it's unusual it would have been left unlocked for that length of time, so we're investigating that," Johannsson said.
He added the box does not carry sufficient voltage to pose a safety hazard, but conceded someone with a pair of wire cutters could have "disrupted phone service to some of the local neighbourhood."
Second box
Johannsson also said Telus workers noticed a smaller box located right next to its own was also unlocked. He would only say the box belongs to a "local cable television company" and that the two companies do not typically alert one another of problems with each other's equipment.
The only identification on that box is a weathered Videotron sticker. Shaw purchased Videon Cablesystems in the late 1990s, which had previously acquired all of Videotron's Alberta assets.
When informed of the situation, a representative for Shaw said she would investigate but had no further information to provide as of press time.
