For six months, Hacienda Heights resident Michael Weiner could not get a dial tone on his landline.
He tried to get an answer from his phone company, Frontier Communications, but was told that it was a technical issue. He continued to get billed even though he couldn’t make a call.
Weiner, 79, eventually learned that his service, like the phone lines of many of his neighbors, was interrupted by copper wire thieves who tampered with utility poles. The problem has even temporarily forced students out of school.
Weiner and his neighbors are the latest victims of a surge in copper wire theft throughout Los Angeles County.
But Weiner and other Hacienda Heights residents are especially steamed that Frontier hasn’t kept them informed about the service cuts and the progress to get the lines operating again.
“No one contacted us to let us know. I had wasted so many hours trying to contact them,” he said about Frontier. “We live in a kind of a fire zone, so we’re always concerned about emergencies. We’re senior citizens. If there’s a health emergency between my wife and myself, it could be a problem if we can’t make a phone call.”
Weiner shares a cellphone with his wife, but the two rely on their landline to stay in touch with family and friends. For months, he said, Frontier missed scheduled service appointments, and his calls for help were routed to Frontier employees who couldn’t do anything for him.
An aerial view of Hacienda Heights.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Hacienda Heights sprawls from dense suburban housing near the 60 Freeway to the single-family homes up the circuitous narrow roads in the hills of Turnbull Canyon. Residents say cell service is spotty at best, making landlines and phone service via a Wi-Fi connection crucial.
But with spotty internet access and no landlines, residents can find themselves in a perilous situation in the event of wildfire, earthquake or other disaster.
Granted, phone lines are just one way to hear about emergencies. Los Angeles County sends alerts via AM and FM radio, and emergency responders can broadcast them to cellphones with no need for special apps. As a last resort, sheriff’s deputies and firefighters can go door to door alerting people to flee, as they did in Ventura County for the Mountain fire earlier this month .
The wire thefts in Hacienda Heights have gone beyond phone lines, though.
Students at Glen A. Wilson High School in Hacienda Heights were forced to attend classes remotely after thieves cut power to the school Nov. 17 .
“The copper wire theft shut down Wilson High School’s electrical, computers, and phone systems. Copper wire thieves are preying on schools and stealing thousands of dollars of valuable material,” Asst. Supt. John Lovato of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District said in a statement. “This theft is severely impacting student learning and programs.”
Two other schools in the district were targeted in the last month, Lovato said, adding that students at Wilson returned to in-person classes after the interruption .
Thieves have grown bolder in recent years, gradually stripping miles of copper wiring from lights on the 6th Street Viaduct in downtown Los Angeles and stealing copper from phone and internet lines.
Copper wire thieves also have stripped wire from the Metro rail lines, causing delays in the service.
One of the problems that causes delays on the Metro Rail system is the theft of copper wiring from signal and traction power equipment adjacent to train tracks, according to the metro.net website.
(Metro)
The motivation: The rust-colored metal can net around $4 per pound, according to the latest scrap metal rates in Los Angeles County.
The city created a heavy metal task force this year to combat the thefts. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is handling the investigation into the Hacienda Heights thefts, but did not respond to requests for comment.
Last week, Frontier Communications restored phone services to some residents in Hacienda Heights, several months after the disruptions were first reported in April.
Doug McAllister, Frontier’s vice president of external affairs, met with frustrated residents to explain that copper wire is in short supply and is being shipped from out of state.
“We’ve had so much cable theft we’re running out of copper,” McAllister said at the Hacienda Heights Improvement Assn. meeting Nov. 18. “What happens is when we get it shipped to us, we put it up, we turn our backs and it’s gone again.”
According to video from the meeting, McAllister assured residents that he would work to address the billing situation for those charged for services during the outage. A representative for Frontier could not be reached for comment.
Frontier is offering a $5,000 reward and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis is offering a $20,000 reward to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the thefts.
“I am committed to continue supporting our Sheriff’s Department of its effort to solve these crimes,” Solis said in a statement.
The phone company has billed Weiner more than $500 while his service was out. Ali Weiner, his daughter, said at one point her parent’s number was disconnected.
“My parents hardly ever look at their cellphone, so this has become a very big security issue,” she said.
Now, Michael Weiner is worried that the whole situation is going to hurt his credit score. He refuses to pay for a service he never received. As of Tuesday , he still hasn’t had his phone line turned back on, but a company representative told his family that his case is being given special attention.
Resident Andrea Gordon, 73, wonders why it took Frontier so long to address the issue or notify customers.
“It’s a terrible situation to be in,” Gordon said.
McAllister suggested that Hacienda Heights upgrade its phone lines to fiber-optic cables. Frontier offers fiber-optic service but did not disclose the rates customers would face.
Gordon said she is suspicious about high-tech lines and doesn’t appreciate the sales pitch amid the disruption in services.
“Why would I give you my telephone as a fiber optic when you can’t even keep my landline going,” she said.
Hacienda Heights resident Larry Arnold inspects the phone line at Turnbull Canyon Road and Skyline Drive.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Resident Diana Arnold, 65, has lived in the Turnbull Canyon area for decades. In 1989, a fire moved through the neighborhood. She said that after she evacuated her home, she continued to call her landline to see whether her answering machine picked up, signaling that her home was still standing.
“Then I saw a news report from the scene talking about the fire, and when they pulled back the shot I saw a smoking house,” Arnold said. “I called the phone and it didn’t pick up.”
Over the last six months, she said she spotted downed phone lines days after contractors worked to repair the network. Fed up with not having a landline, Arnold and her family switched to a phone service with an Internet provider that competes with Frontier.
“It’s not just a landline, it’s a lifeline,” Arnold said.