our internet lines got stolen!!!
By abitcurious
@abitcurious (1422)
Philippines
May 23, 2010 6:36am CST
And I don't mean my LAN cable or something like. Yesterday at dawn, about 3 am. Our internet suddenly went down. Imagine my room mate's dismay because she was doing an all-nighter for a research project. Because that happens a lot here, all she can do was sleep and pray to heavens that it would be up by the time she wakes up.
Well I woke up pretty early, about 7 am and found out that it wasn't up. Since it was a weekend, I decided to go back to sleep. At 10 am I checked again and, nada. Instead of preparing breakfast, we decided to eat out for breakfast instead.
We checked out our ISP's office on the way. It was closed but the guard was gracious enough to let me use the office phone to call the service crew.
Breakfast done and bored to death, the crew came over and announced that the cables were stolen.
Stolen!!! How can anyone steal cables from 20-ft poles? The robbers must have the right gears. Anyway, it was frustrating and hilarious at the same time. I can only shake my head and grin as the crew drove away.
That's how we roll here in the Philippines. Internet cables get stolen. Haha!
Now I'm back online. More than 24 hours after. Ironic thing, the robbers took a few minutes to take away the thing and the service crew took more than 24 hours to get it back.
I don't know if I want to cry or sulk.
1 person likes this
10 responses
@frontvisions101 (16043)
• Philippines
23 May 10
I'm a Filipino too. Hahaha! I gotta say, that's really how we roll.
It hasn't happen to me but I had something stolen before and it was the window screen. Can you believe that? I know what they do to it that's why they steal stuff like that. They sell it to junk shops for extra money. But why would they risk their lives trying to steal stuff like that? I can't see the logic behind their actions.
It hasn't happen to me but I had something stolen before and it was the window screen. Can you believe that? I know what they do to it that's why they steal stuff like that. They sell it to junk shops for extra money. But why would they risk their lives trying to steal stuff like that? I can't see the logic behind their actions.@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
23 May 10
HEy kabayan. What would they want with your screen? scare away mosquitoes? I think they do take stuff like that in junk shops. I was just thankful that nothing inside our home was stolen. Not yet anyway.
Scary right? I even heard that some robbers use super long poles to get items from inside the house like cellphones and pdas.
@dreamhome (558)
• India
23 May 10
Stealers everywhere..I'm really amazed how these robbers get ideas like this..
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
23 May 10
@dreamhome oh they never lack for ideas. I mean its their expertise after all.
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
23 May 10
oh yeah since your a superhero nothing will come out the wrong way.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
23 May 10
Your room mate was busy doing Internet research for most of the night so she must have felt awfully upset when the Internet went down. Usually it is a technical problem and nobody would get their Internet cables stolen. The silly robbers went off with your Internet cables. That sounds so strange and it was annoying that the service crew of your Internet service got the Internet service back to you some 24 hours later. I know how frustrated you must feel right now. I have heard of some robbers taking laptops and mobile phones but not Internet cables until now. So the robbers were much quicker than the Internet service provider. That shows the criminal world can be fast so the robber can get away before the police arrive. Godd luck at keeping your Internet connection.
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
24 May 10
Reminds me of the time that the power went out in the house. Nobody had stolen anything, but it turned out that somebody had turned the circuit breakers off. Fortunately it was just a prank...
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
26 May 10
Pranksters! Either you hate them or you love them for it.
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
23 May 10
Wow! What would they do with the cables anyway? Start their own cable company? I think they would need more than a couple of cables.
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
24 May 10
I think if I was going to become a thief I would go for bigger stuff than cables. These cable thieves are just small potatoes if you ask me.
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
23 May 10
probably sell them to junk shops. or make their own "hand crafted jewelry"? they do sell pretty expensive if you're really creative.
@net101 (157)
• India
23 May 10
Thieves are available at every nook and corner of the world. When they don't get valuables, they brainstorm and do anything that can bring them even small money irrespective of the harm they make to thousands of people. Theft of internet cable or electricity cable is common in many parts of the globe. Just like we get information of our liking on the net, thieves also get information on the internet about unique ways they can rob public or government. They don't even spare toilet paper. He.. He..
@starsailover (7829)
• Mexico
23 May 10
Hi net: I agree with you. Thieves will took away everything simply for getting a little money. This is very common in many other parts of the globe just as you said I think but even with that it still being frustrating to know how some people act. I mean, there are so many things to do to win some money and they do this to us. It's simply not fair. Thanks for your answer.
ALVARO
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
23 May 10
Ooops guilty. I have a towel from a hotel somewhere around here. 
@gerald_lian (2188)
• Australia
23 May 10
Oh wow, I didn't know that cable thefts are that prevalent in the Philippines! 
Makes one think that it might be better to have dial-up or broadband..... Anyway, I know how it feels for the internet to be down and you have a research to be done; I experienced that while I was in uni. So much so that I had to walk to uni at midnight just to use the internet in the computer labs there. By the way, it seems that those thieves must be professionals; taking cables away in a matter of minutes sounds like a pro to me! 
Glad you got your internet connection back already though....dunno how suffering it would be if it were still down.....
Makes one think that it might be better to have dial-up or broadband..... Anyway, I know how it feels for the internet to be down and you have a research to be done; I experienced that while I was in uni. So much so that I had to walk to uni at midnight just to use the internet in the computer labs there. By the way, it seems that those thieves must be professionals; taking cables away in a matter of minutes sounds like a pro to me! Glad you got your internet connection back already though....dunno how suffering it would be if it were still down.....@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
23 May 10
Well. in our case, the wires and cables are on the same posts so the same risks are there. Maybe DSL wires are more expensive than telephone wires. Broadband wires getting stolen will be like too close for comfort don't you think. I mean they would be inside your gates or buildings right?
My room mate got tired of my whining and told me to shut up already. She was more pissed off, I suppose.
@o0jopak0o (6394)
• Philippines
23 May 10
just as the post above i thought it was wifi. well havent heard of something like that near our house but have heard it elsewhere.
well wires have metals that can be sold to junk shops.
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
23 May 10
yep anything can be sold to a junk shop here.You know the term GSM. Nope were not talking about cellphone technology. Roughly translated that means, From the hands of thieves.
@starsailover (7829)
• Mexico
23 May 10
Hi a bit curious: I think that would be areally frustrating situation. This has not happened to me but I know some similar stories of people that stole internet and tv cable connections and stuff here in my country. I think just as you do Why do they do this? I mean, they're life are in risk while they try to stole the cables and everything and in those cases we have to wait until the technicians reinstall the connections. I had some problems with my internet connection some months ago but it was because of the rain and my provider fix it after days of waiting. Thanks for sharing with us your story. Hope you're having a nice day.
ALVARO.
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
23 May 10
well we do have serious weather damages all throughout the year. We're in the path of typhoons so 3 times or more in the year everything gets down:electricity, water, internet. Not to mention that we're in the Pacific rim of fire so we always have earthquakes. But we're pretty adaptable so we manage.
I am okay now since I'm back online. Didn't realize I was so addicted to the Internet until I actually had my "withdrawal" syndrome.
@jamed28 (1903)
• Philippines
23 May 10
Well good think, they only stole the wires and not the poles. ha ha ha ha. Well I am also from the Philippines, And I think every country has it's on downside.
