Aihnss.1181
net.jokes
utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!mhtsa!eagle!ihnss!karn
Tue Jan 5 17:28:31 1982
Ma Bell Burned
AT&T's highly touted Northeast Corridor Fiber Optic Cable has been
shut down by the Environmental Protecion Agency, this publication
has learned. The powerful lasers that the company was using to
transmit the line's huge message volume were discovered to be
creating extremely high temperatures in the cable-duct system.
According to reliable sources, the reason for the unforeseen
complication is a mixup of lasers at an ultrasecret Bell Labs test
site. Somehow, specs for the communications laser got mixed up with
plans for a death ray Bell was working on for the DOD, and a hybrid
device was built and installed. The intense heat generated within
the cables has melted the duct system and surrounding rock strata,
causing roads and buildings beneath which the cable passes to sag
and in some places collapse. The EPA has filed suit against AT&T
which is countersuing. AT&T has also filed for substantial rate
increases in all affected states. "we don't see why our
stockholders should be forced to take a beating on this," a company
spokesman said.
--Datamation Magazine, April, 1981
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