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Telephone Era in Alberta >> The People
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Labour >> Cablemen
Today’s cablemen work on lines above and below ground, making the
splices that connect individual subscribers and whole networks.
Below-ground work may take place in a cable vault, located
beneath the street or at the point where the cable enters the
exchange and the wires are connected to the main distributing frame
leading to the switching equipment.
Cablemen may carry out similar splicing work in large commercial
buildings, where a number of subscribers require many telephone
lines.
At one time, each pair of wires would be individually joined and
wrapped; today, crimpers match up batches of wires and join them in
one operation. Fibre optic connections are spliced using a technique
similar to welding.
Other cablemen are responsible for pulling the cable through the
underground ducts that connect one location to another. This cable
comes in large spools or reels mounted on a truck, and is unrolled
into the ducts through a cable vault opening to the surface.
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Heritage Community Foundation and
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