what's an air pressure stub phone cable Bart? What's it do? Why swipe it?
Most all of the big phone cables that feed big neighborhoods and business parks are in an underground system of conduits. Most are very old and have paper insulated wires instead of plastic. There are air pumps that put pressure into the cable(about 10lbs) to keep the water from getting into the cable. That stub is an air block that keeps the air from leaving the underground cable because the cables on the poles are generally plastic insulated copper wires and don't need the air to keep the conductors dry.
When those bastards cut that cable below the stub,we lose air pressure on the cables in the underground run and things start getting wet. Once a paper insulated phone cable gets wet,it's useless and must be replaced. Miles of it. It's a huge project that takes weeks and all because a couple of jackasses want a few hundred dollars worth of copper...
