Abandoned equipment in POE closet 2

[DougLowewriter]

The POE closet in our building has a bunch of old T1 equipment that has been left behind by previous tenants. There are a total of 17 T1 cards (I think they are the NIU cards) with circuit numbers in 5 different chassis. Most of the cards are dark but a few are lit up but with alarms. It's a small building with currently just two tenants, neither of which uses T1 anymore (one is Comcast Fiber, the other is Comcast business-class cable). The equipment was originally put there by at least three different vendors, AT&T, TWT, and Telepacific. There are circuit numbers on each card.

Is it safe and/or legal to pull this abandoned equipment out? We need to reclaim the space for new equipment coming in. Or do I need to contact the original vendors and wait forever for them to come get their leftover junk? Some of it has been abandoned for several years.

--Doug

 

[sbcsu]

If they do not come and remove their equipment you could try and send them an invoice for 'storage'.
I am sure they would then call around...

 

[mforrence]

Almost certainly this equipment is all owned by the imbedded local exchange carrier (ILEC) regardless of whose circuit they were delivering. It is common to find this. While you cannot legally remove the equipment, contacting the carrier would be a real chore. If it were me, I'd remove an pile in a corner for a year or so. Just remember that most circuits are powered from the network - so you'll find 100 volts on the live pipes.

 

[robertjo24]

MFORRENCE has a good suggestion, it’s what we do. We disconnect the equipment and set it aside in the closet (in plain sight) for a while. If the telco does not want to reclaim their equipment after a year it goes to recycle. As a precaution, we generally take a picture of the equipment and list serial numbers to keep on file. I don’t like becoming their dumping ground.

 

[hawks]

We do pretty much the same thing I contact the local lec and let them know. Then give them 30 days to respond if not it goes in the corner.

 

[jkupski]

imbedded local exchange carrier (ILEC)

Incumbent...

Just saying.

 

[Thermus]

See if you can turn the off the power to the equipment first then wait and see if anything does fall over. If not, pile in the corner.

 

[janaya]

If they are NIU cards, they will get their power from the cable pairs going into the equipment. They are DSL configured lines provisioned for T1/PRI circuits. A little power, but not much.