Backhoe fade or JCB fade is a humorous term coined by the telecommunications industry, referring to the accidental severing of a cable by a backhoe or similar construction activity.[1]
The term comes from the sudden and initially inexplicable loss of signal ("fading") experienced when a cable is accidentally dug up and damaged. Depending on the particular cable destroyed, service may be interrupted to just a few customers or, for a large fiber optic cable, millions of customers across an entire continent.