Emergency Call Out Services

It is rumored that the quote “The internet will follow you everywhere” is attributed to a statement Bill Gates made around 1998. He should have said that with fiber optic cable the internet will follow you everywhere. Only fiber has the bandwidth to bring data to the user at the speed they expect (low latency). Now, in 2025, he was right. The combination of fiber, cellular radio and satellite technology allows instant access to anything from finance to entertainment.

Society is completely dependent on these technologies. Fiber carries volumes of data at speed. When it fails thousands of people, institutions, factories, and hospitals deal with limited functionality or stop altogether. This is why emergency repair to fiber optic cable is a service, increasingly in demand.

Electric Conduit Construction (ECC) has offered emergency call out services to its customers for over 15 years. Our service area is any point up to four hours from Chicago. This includes Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin, Northern Indiana, and Southern Michigan.

Our protocols for emergency repair have reduced outage time and saved our customers money by reducing inefficiency. In emergency repairs knowledge of the customer’s infrastructure and how it was built, is critical to shortening the length of the outage. Any adjustment to the crew make-up or equipment after the crew is dispatched adds time to the repair.

Typically, an outage occurs from storms, rodents, frozen cases, construction mishaps or traffic accidents. These outages can occur above or below ground. Even vandalism can cause an outage when fiber is mistaken for copper. Bullet damage is always above ground.

ECC responds to emergency callouts 24 hours a day and 7 days per week.

Our splicers are trained and focused on troubleshooting with an eye on problem solving at the same time.

All outages start with a splice crew responding. Once onsite, they assess the situation and identify damage with workable solutions. The solution is expressed to the customer. With the approved solution, the correct teams are added, whether it be underground or aerial support. While that happens, the splice crew is setting up a safe work zone, prepping, wrecking out, and calling in locates.

Damage to underground Outside Plant (OSP) facilities are the most difficult to repair because of the required excavation. Excavation in crowded utility corridors may require hydro-vac or hand digging. If the damage is deep, shoring may be needed. Conduits may also have to be cut back to allow slack to be pulled through. A sufficient work area must be created to make room for the equipment and splice trailer. Repairs must be made under any weather conditions. It is especially important that the splice trailers are climate controlled, well equipped, lit, and ventilated. Fiber splicing demands a steady hand and concentration. A comfortable splice trailer is necessary.

There are several methods for eliminating the damage and making a splice. In urban areas where conduit is in use the cable is removed from one manhole to the next manhole. Then the conduit is repaired and mule tape blown through from manhole to manhole. A new cable(s) is pulled in and two butt splices are made, one in each manhole. In a suburban or rural area, it is usually possible to set a new handhole, repair the conduit and make one butt splice in the new handhole.

Arial damage usually can be fixed by first making slack, then extending the cable into the splice trailer where one butt splice is made inside of a splice case. Once completed the slack is taken up and the cable and splice case are attached to the messenger wire.

The outage is over once data begins to flow. Hard or soft surface restoration can then be completed, weather permitting.

ECC endeavors to build repairs that match the design life of the existing OSP. In many cases we can make improvements to the OSP by removing old splice boxes with low quality workmanship. The goal at ECC is to restore service rapidly and deliver more than the customer expected.

If you need emergency services, consider working with Electric Conduit Construction to design a program that will minimize your outages and provide you with repairs that will last.

For more information call Carl Oko on 630-360-7903.