Trees and phone line

There is a tree which has recently grown to the extent that it is starting to touch the BT dropwire running to my house. At the moment it's just a thin branch with a few leaves that's touching it so it's not anything major.

It got me thinking though - how resistant are phone wires to effects of trees? I see many phone lines passing through trees so they must be resistant to some extent. I assume problems only occur if thick branches grow and cause the line to stretch and/or damage the insulation?

My line is relatively new compared to some (16 years old) so I'm hoping its insulation is sufficient to withstand the leaves that are touching it!

Edited by deleted (Sun 20-Apr-14 23:26:17)

Our neighbours tree once was touching the overhead cable going to our house. Dunno how long it took, but the swaying back and forth in the wind eventually frayed and snapped the cable

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 20-Apr-14 23:48:14)

One of mine went through a tree for 20 years ... never a problem. If a branch start to look as though it will strain the wire then get up there and either move the wire or cut the branch.

The outside of BT dropwire is very strong
It is quite unlike normal house wiring electrical/phone

I live in a very rural tree rich area.
BT overhead dropwires are threaded though trees on multiple pole without any problems at all.
I'm sure that eventually over perhaps a decade if a strong branch was continuously rubbing then it would damage the cable.
Leaves and twigs are totally insignificant.

The main problem and cause of failures is rather that squirrels gain access to the wire via the trees and then chew on the cable

I try to keep my phone line clear of tree branches because of this problem, and I don't want a bill from BT. Some of the line beyond my house is overhead near trees and it frequently gets damaged.

I've had the drop wire replaced twice at the same property after it was damaged by rubbing on tree branches. BT were very good and didn't charge me but my advice is to trim the tree now - I have mine so it won't happen again.

Now days we are told to charge if end user trees damge overhead cable.

In reply to a post by btbert:

Now days we are told to charge if end user trees damge overhead cable.

I agree with this charge. However, at a previous address I watched a BT man thread my neighbours new line through a tree ( not my neighbours ) without any attempt to trim the branches!

The fun really starts if BT are going to play by the book where a dropline runs from a pole across another's person's land prior to the householders. And it's trees on that other land that are the problem.

My line passes through some trees along an unadopted lane where ownership of the land can't be found. Pic: Tree on the line.
I've just updated this page as OR have removed their previous contact details for damaged equipment etc.! There's a Health and Safety phone contact now along with a reminder to contact your provider...

Over the years I've reported 3 trees and it takes around 3 months for each tree to be removed. BT say they have to carry out searches each time to try and find out who owns the land to bill them. Each time they fail to find the owner and eventually remove the tree.

When a tree has fallen on a power cable. The power people sent a surveyor within 2 hours and the tree was logged up in 3! That's what I call customer service!