When 26 customers suddenly lost their internet — with no digging or construction going on nearby — we knew we had a real mystery on our hands. This wasn’t a quick fix. It felt more like solving a crime scene.

Our first clue came from an OTDR test, which showed the fault was about 170 meters from the cabinet. With a weak tone on the tracer, we followed the cable route step by step using a locator and a measuring wheel. Everything pointed to that spot — but above ground, nothing looked out of place.

Right as we were about to start digging, a homeowner came by and mentioned he’d just put in a new fence. Something clicked. We dug right there — and bingo. A ground anchor had been driven straight through the duct, cutting the cable clean.

Turns out, the homeowner probably didn’t request a cable locate before digging. The conduit had been installed years ago when the property layout was slightly different. A simple oversight turned into a big (and expensive) problem.