my house phone is not working and I have a feeling that this is due to someone breaking into the transformer or cutting the lines and taking out the copper pieces!!!!! So how much money can they get for this? I am just curious case it is pissing me off especially since it had made my family even more distant from each other (even with cell phones, we don't talk much to each other). This is the second time I have seen this happen but this was at a different house.thank youi live in detroit if that helps explain anything.
Phone wires are relatively small gauge wire, the run from the telephone pole from your house is proably 18 gauge wire, so a 100 foot run of 1 pair cable would have abount 1 pound of copper. This is worth around $3 when recycled. Transformers are worth less per pound because there is so much non-copper content, probably only about 66% copper, and phone related transformers tend to be small -- an 8 ounce transformer (which is likely heavier than anything in your home phone system) would probably yield around $1 when recycled. Your residential phone wiring inside the house is smaller than the wiring the phone company uses, 100 feet of 4 pair 22 gauge wire would weigh around 1 pound and be worth around $1. It seems like very low payback for the amount of work that is required and the risk from prosecution, but I suppose if someone is desparate for money, they'll take the risk. More commonly, power cables are stolen for profit, 100 feet of 3 conductor 14 gauge home wiring is going to weigh 3 lbs ($9) - and 100 feet of 3 conductor 10 gauge wiring used for something like a streetlight would weigh around 9 lbs ($27)
