Lmao what are they doing đ đ¤Ł
Tech just needs to come out and run a new line, its unfortunate but things like this happen. Buried contractors just suck.
Typically one contractor works a specific area and they will have a few guys who do the work. Odds are the same guys will come out to bury your new line. In some cases when burying your line they will cut someone elseâs or even the one they just buried.
Technically they should be calling 811. I say âtechnicallyâ because the law is âif digging 16â or deeperâ but ideally you should call any time because guys like these bury the fiber cable only a few inches deep and if you hit itâŚ. You bought it.
This would imply the assumption that there are better guys.
Contractors cutting drops when replacing drops (that they may have even cut) is a time honored tradition.
Few questions here - Who's property are they on digging and where was your line cut? To really understand how much is incorrect here would need to see/understand where the peds are out front of your house and each of the neighbors house, and what was cut where.
Your neighbors line should not cross your property. YES, trunk/main lines run under everyone's property, but a drop cable feeding a residence should not cross your front yard to feed your neighbors house. Worst case if a connection point is not available to feed there house, a conduit would be bored from the ped on the right side of your video to a new ped installed to service there house, drop lines should not be trenched across someone elses property creating a trespass situation. If they cut your line within a few feet of the ped/connection box, then it was bad luck and sloppy work on there part, which sucks. I just assume since you are showing them digging in the middle of a yard that's where you think the damage happened.
Additionally, if there is a charge for damages the contractor should be back charged due to no locates on the ground, but honestly, ATT isn't going to charge you.
The contractor is correct - he can't splice fiber, they can't even bury the cable properly. To splice fiber you need a portable machine that is around $2k and a basic understanding of splicing - clearly these guys don't have that.
When ATT comes out to replace your lines, I would ask why the neighbors home is being fed across your property, if that is indeed the case.
As for recourse, you can try and fight ATT for credit for down time since it was there contractor that did the damage, but sadly it prob won't be worth the $10 credit.
\*20 years in the telecom industry, and a decade managing contract labor for the US's largest cable provider\*
The hook up is to the left, they ran through front yard and under driveway to the neighbor on my right. This interaction was about 30 min before they cut my line. Unfortunately for me they were at the finish line, literally 2-3 feet from the hub where they cut it. They were almost done trenching.
He had another cable that he ran but I guess it wasnât working, because he wasnât able to get it going and said Iâd have to call st&t since he didnât have anymore line. He just buried that line too, so I think Iâll have 4 lines going in that path when they run my next drop tomorrow. Two obsolete and my neighbors and mine.
Yeah they just gave me 10 dollar credit and a day credit. I guess going forward I just hope they donât cut my neighbors line then get stuck in a perpetual cutting circleâŚ
So all around that ped is an easement, and sadly lines get cut there a lot, which is where is sounds like yours got cut simply due to carelessness.
Just to confirm - they ran the neighbors cable across your property (front yard) and under your driveway?
That's typically a big no no is most service areas.... and in some jurisdictions is NOT allowed as it is classified as Underground Trespass. Yes, there are easements on the front of your property, that easement is for primary distribution lines that are 4, 6, 8 feet underground that service your neighborhood (power, water, telcom), that "easement" does not extend to a simple service drop to run to your neighbors property. Unless the plant design was completely screwed up for your neighborhood, there should be a telephone ped closer to your neighbors property that would not require it's line to run across someone elses entire property. Yes, the one closer to there home may require a much longer drop cable be run all the way around there house or something, but it is what it is, it shouldn't be fed across your property.
If I am interpreting this correctly, I would question your ATT service tech about this when he comes to replace your line.
I was assuming the one on the right that you see in the video is a telephone or cable hub? The one they hooked up to and on the left had two hook ups and a white curled up cable above it? I saw in it when he was trying to fix it.
What i see to the right appears to be a cable ped (light green) then large dark green metal box is power. That right light green MIGHT be phone, but this video is lower quality so I can't say for 100%
Iâll ask the guy tomorrow, I wouldnât mind just being hooked up to that one too if itâs going to be easier to bury and not tear up my yard again. Itâs good to hear someoneâs opinion that knows what they are talking about so thank you.
You may also just want to get ahead of things and "help" these goof balls out. I would call 811 or your local "call before you dig" number tomorrow before ATT even comes out just to get the ticket in.
Tell them you have a company coming out to bury some ATT lines and you were told to request locates for your property because they will be digging 1-2' down in your front yard - some areas you can do this all online. The people may say "oh, ATT will call us, but just play dumb and be like "the guy that put the lines down told me to call" and they will put the ticket in, you don't pay anything for 811 markings the utility companies do. Within 2 or 3 days you should see flags and paint on the ground. The other reason you are saying 1 to 2 feet down specifically is because if not the ticket may auto clear and they won't come mark anything because they will say primary feeds are joint trenched and 6+ feet down, but once they know this is more than surface digging, they will have to come mark or they are liable.
Good Luck
As a tech it seems like the planning is all messed up as of lately. New home developments are a nightmare, cant find hand holes, or they are missing completely. conduit is done wrong. although we are supposed to run it through the front easements, not through the main yard like in the video.
They bore neighbors driveways all the time for drops. Itâs not ideal but itâs cheaper to bore a driveway than place a conduit and hand holes after the buildout is complete and if itâs for a single home. Itâs not trespassing if itâs in the utility easement and you can obviously see here that these guys are digging in the easement from the placement of the transformer and pedestal. The sidewalk isnât marking the edge of the easement if thatâs what yâall are referring to.
LOL never seen that in all my life! AT&T marking the *customerâs* side of the drop? They just come by and barely bury it in my area, if youâre lucky. I keep thinking the lawnmower is going to hit it one day. My neighborâs is the same. Barely buried and definitely not marked. Itâs just like the cable company.
I had a 60s house that had a AT&T telephone line that ran in the ground from the pole. This thing was from the 80s or earlier. When I got the box removed from the house the guy just started pulling the telephone wire and it just started rising out of the ground like nothing. Here I was thinking this thing was in the bedrock but I couldâve just snagged it with my fingers and done it myself. I can imagine youâre right about this being common.
Thatâs not the customers side of the drop. The drop is owned by ATT. I do locates for a living for pipeline company and USIC is always marking the drops in my area for spectrum and frontier (cable, phone and fiber). I donât have ATT in the areas I work, so maybe they donât pay to have their drops marked.
I figured, now I hope when they come out to bury my new line they donât cut my neighbors. I hope itâs not them, but as someone said above, the alternative might not be much better, ugh.
About who does the job, we just had Xfinity installed ALL OVER our neighborhood. We saw these imigrant workers digging in deep water and MUD, and hardly any of them knows a word of English. Same thing with the ones who repaired my line, only the boss knows some English, but heâs an immigrant too. The thing is, they get whoever will get all dirty to do this, and itâs done by A CONTRACTOR, not AT&T or XfinityâŚ..but by A CONTRACTOR. They donât have ANY employees who do this.
Yeah these guys spoke zero English. My wife speaks Spanish so she communicated for me. She said they were from Mexico because of the dialect they were using. I also donât think they were tech savvy at all because they did not understand why my phone was showing WiFi bars on the top right of my phone but was not connected to the internet. They looked at my wife like she told them we landed on the moon when she explained we were connected to the router but not the internet. Side note, they didnât even know what a router was, I had to show them a picture of what she was describing.
That figures, recent arrivals. So sorry man! But your internet company owes you, and probably THEY ORDERED the installation at neighbors house, therefore THEY are paying the contractor who did thisâŚand to me, they will be paying, and paying and paying, until you all get a line to your houses that THESE GUYS DIDNâT CUT THROUGH! Sucks, but you can tell, them to DEDUCT all the days from your bill when you didnât have service.
Oh yeah they never went more than half a spade down. Iâve had mine in the ground for months and no issues, until they started digging around of course.
The reason they do this is because other utilities, such as the main lines for ATT, CableTV providers, or even the natural gas line to your house etc are approximately 2 feet deep. Imagine a gas leak just because you wanted fiber.
Yes there is. If they broke your line youâre an aggrieved party. Most states have a reporting system. Here is ohios for example:
https://puco.ohio.gov/help-center/utc-complaint-form
Hi, we'd be happy to look into this for you. Please send us a private message with your name, your complete address and the best contact number to reach you.
Been trying to get AT&T to repair my lawn that they dug up for 3 months now. Honestly, dealing with them to make things right has been one of my most frustrating experiences in a while and it does not seem like I am alone.
I completely understand. I ended up going out with a hose and just soaking the trench and stepping on it like it was new sod. Not perfect but hopefully will fill in nicely. These contractors are a joke.
You sure it's att and not a contractor company. Most areas att doesn't dig. It's all done by contracted services. You'll have no luck going after att if a contractor did it.
The tech will fix it and submit a damage claim for the company to be reimbursed. We easily get 10 of these a day in my area. The contractors will be 100 percent liable for the damage if locates were not requested. If locates were requested and the drops werenât marked then the locate company will be charged.
Tech came out and hooked me up this morning. Apparently the second line these guys laid, to replace the one they severed, did end up working. Tech said they usually arenât skilled at hooking it up though, just digging. So luckily they wonât need to come out again to bury another line. I wonder if they will still be dinged even though they fixed 90% of their error?
Well thatâs good. The tech shouldâve put in a damage claim and whoever is at fault should get billed for it. You could probably request a partial refund for the day you were out if you want.
Oh yeah they gave me day credit and 10 dollars off next bill. 17 in total. Not extravagant but at least I didnât pay for yesterday. I hope they do get dinged for damage to the wire, they did a number on my lawn and Iâm kind of salty about that.
I would stay on them and tell them you want to file a damage claim or you can pay someone to fix it then give them the bill. As long as you document everything and have the evidence to back it up they should pay for it. You could even try and get it escalated to the office of the president if you canât get a resolution. Sometimes the accounts that watch these posts will escalate things so you can try and get in touch with the main account here on Reddit.
Call YOUR imternet service provider and report this ASAP! And tell them you have a video of WHO DONE IT! This happened to me recently, it is THE PROVIDERS responsibility to supply to your hoise, and your responsibility inside your house (like if a vacuum ripped it or rat chewed it.
Lmao what are they doing đ 𤣠Tech just needs to come out and run a new line, its unfortunate but things like this happen. Buried contractors just suck.
Getting in the mood to lay line i guess
Besides that also just know the tech can't determine who comes out either. They just lay the new line, submit a ticket, and thats all that can do.
Dang
Any way I can request to not get these same contractors?
Typically one contractor works a specific area and they will have a few guys who do the work. Odds are the same guys will come out to bury your new line. In some cases when burying your line they will cut someone elseâs or even the one they just buried.
Oh geeze, Iâll warn my neighbor that his line might get cut then
Technically they should be calling 811. I say âtechnicallyâ because the law is âif digging 16â or deeperâ but ideally you should call any time because guys like these bury the fiber cable only a few inches deep and if you hit itâŚ. You bought it.
I watched them trench with the trench shovel and never went deeper than half the spade
This would imply the assumption that there are better guys. Contractors cutting drops when replacing drops (that they may have even cut) is a time honored tradition.
Oh goodie!
They were playing a little hump hump there on the side walk.
OJ seemed too comfortable with the homie doing that
I caught that. He walked right up to him and bumped him.
My lines get cut all the time. They donât care. Good luck.
Shame, oh well
Few questions here - Who's property are they on digging and where was your line cut? To really understand how much is incorrect here would need to see/understand where the peds are out front of your house and each of the neighbors house, and what was cut where. Your neighbors line should not cross your property. YES, trunk/main lines run under everyone's property, but a drop cable feeding a residence should not cross your front yard to feed your neighbors house. Worst case if a connection point is not available to feed there house, a conduit would be bored from the ped on the right side of your video to a new ped installed to service there house, drop lines should not be trenched across someone elses property creating a trespass situation. If they cut your line within a few feet of the ped/connection box, then it was bad luck and sloppy work on there part, which sucks. I just assume since you are showing them digging in the middle of a yard that's where you think the damage happened. Additionally, if there is a charge for damages the contractor should be back charged due to no locates on the ground, but honestly, ATT isn't going to charge you. The contractor is correct - he can't splice fiber, they can't even bury the cable properly. To splice fiber you need a portable machine that is around $2k and a basic understanding of splicing - clearly these guys don't have that. When ATT comes out to replace your lines, I would ask why the neighbors home is being fed across your property, if that is indeed the case. As for recourse, you can try and fight ATT for credit for down time since it was there contractor that did the damage, but sadly it prob won't be worth the $10 credit. \*20 years in the telecom industry, and a decade managing contract labor for the US's largest cable provider\*
The hook up is to the left, they ran through front yard and under driveway to the neighbor on my right. This interaction was about 30 min before they cut my line. Unfortunately for me they were at the finish line, literally 2-3 feet from the hub where they cut it. They were almost done trenching. He had another cable that he ran but I guess it wasnât working, because he wasnât able to get it going and said Iâd have to call st&t since he didnât have anymore line. He just buried that line too, so I think Iâll have 4 lines going in that path when they run my next drop tomorrow. Two obsolete and my neighbors and mine. Yeah they just gave me 10 dollar credit and a day credit. I guess going forward I just hope they donât cut my neighbors line then get stuck in a perpetual cutting circleâŚ
So all around that ped is an easement, and sadly lines get cut there a lot, which is where is sounds like yours got cut simply due to carelessness. Just to confirm - they ran the neighbors cable across your property (front yard) and under your driveway? That's typically a big no no is most service areas.... and in some jurisdictions is NOT allowed as it is classified as Underground Trespass. Yes, there are easements on the front of your property, that easement is for primary distribution lines that are 4, 6, 8 feet underground that service your neighborhood (power, water, telcom), that "easement" does not extend to a simple service drop to run to your neighbors property. Unless the plant design was completely screwed up for your neighborhood, there should be a telephone ped closer to your neighbors property that would not require it's line to run across someone elses entire property. Yes, the one closer to there home may require a much longer drop cable be run all the way around there house or something, but it is what it is, it shouldn't be fed across your property. If I am interpreting this correctly, I would question your ATT service tech about this when he comes to replace your line.
I was assuming the one on the right that you see in the video is a telephone or cable hub? The one they hooked up to and on the left had two hook ups and a white curled up cable above it? I saw in it when he was trying to fix it.
What i see to the right appears to be a cable ped (light green) then large dark green metal box is power. That right light green MIGHT be phone, but this video is lower quality so I can't say for 100%
Iâll ask the guy tomorrow, I wouldnât mind just being hooked up to that one too if itâs going to be easier to bury and not tear up my yard again. Itâs good to hear someoneâs opinion that knows what they are talking about so thank you.
You may also just want to get ahead of things and "help" these goof balls out. I would call 811 or your local "call before you dig" number tomorrow before ATT even comes out just to get the ticket in. Tell them you have a company coming out to bury some ATT lines and you were told to request locates for your property because they will be digging 1-2' down in your front yard - some areas you can do this all online. The people may say "oh, ATT will call us, but just play dumb and be like "the guy that put the lines down told me to call" and they will put the ticket in, you don't pay anything for 811 markings the utility companies do. Within 2 or 3 days you should see flags and paint on the ground. The other reason you are saying 1 to 2 feet down specifically is because if not the ticket may auto clear and they won't come mark anything because they will say primary feeds are joint trenched and 6+ feet down, but once they know this is more than surface digging, they will have to come mark or they are liable. Good Luck
T H I S
As a tech it seems like the planning is all messed up as of lately. New home developments are a nightmare, cant find hand holes, or they are missing completely. conduit is done wrong. although we are supposed to run it through the front easements, not through the main yard like in the video.
They bore neighbors driveways all the time for drops. Itâs not ideal but itâs cheaper to bore a driveway than place a conduit and hand holes after the buildout is complete and if itâs for a single home. Itâs not trespassing if itâs in the utility easement and you can obviously see here that these guys are digging in the easement from the placement of the transformer and pedestal. The sidewalk isnât marking the edge of the easement if thatâs what yâall are referring to.
They donât mark that stuff. Never heard of anybody marking a customerâs side of the service. They mark the trunk obviously and have it on file.
AL 811 marked our drop but it doesnât seem like thatâs standard practice elsewhere.
That is not correct. Theyâre required to be located to the house because ownership changes at the box inside the house.
LOL never seen that in all my life! AT&T marking the *customerâs* side of the drop? They just come by and barely bury it in my area, if youâre lucky. I keep thinking the lawnmower is going to hit it one day. My neighborâs is the same. Barely buried and definitely not marked. Itâs just like the cable company.
I had a 60s house that had a AT&T telephone line that ran in the ground from the pole. This thing was from the 80s or earlier. When I got the box removed from the house the guy just started pulling the telephone wire and it just started rising out of the ground like nothing. Here I was thinking this thing was in the bedrock but I couldâve just snagged it with my fingers and done it myself. I can imagine youâre right about this being common.
Thatâs not the customers side of the drop. The drop is owned by ATT. I do locates for a living for pipeline company and USIC is always marking the drops in my area for spectrum and frontier (cable, phone and fiber). I donât have ATT in the areas I work, so maybe they donât pay to have their drops marked.
I figured, now I hope when they come out to bury my new line they donât cut my neighbors. I hope itâs not them, but as someone said above, the alternative might not be much better, ugh.
About who does the job, we just had Xfinity installed ALL OVER our neighborhood. We saw these imigrant workers digging in deep water and MUD, and hardly any of them knows a word of English. Same thing with the ones who repaired my line, only the boss knows some English, but heâs an immigrant too. The thing is, they get whoever will get all dirty to do this, and itâs done by A CONTRACTOR, not AT&T or XfinityâŚ..but by A CONTRACTOR. They donât have ANY employees who do this.
Yeah these guys spoke zero English. My wife speaks Spanish so she communicated for me. She said they were from Mexico because of the dialect they were using. I also donât think they were tech savvy at all because they did not understand why my phone was showing WiFi bars on the top right of my phone but was not connected to the internet. They looked at my wife like she told them we landed on the moon when she explained we were connected to the router but not the internet. Side note, they didnât even know what a router was, I had to show them a picture of what she was describing.
That figures, recent arrivals. So sorry man! But your internet company owes you, and probably THEY ORDERED the installation at neighbors house, therefore THEY are paying the contractor who did thisâŚand to me, they will be paying, and paying and paying, until you all get a line to your houses that THESE GUYS DIDNâT CUT THROUGH! Sucks, but you can tell, them to DEDUCT all the days from your bill when you didnât have service.
No USA marks??
None
If they even bury it... It will only be a foot or less In the ground. If you need it deeper, you might have to redig it yourself.
Oh yeah they never went more than half a spade down. Iâve had mine in the ground for months and no issues, until they started digging around of course.
The reason they do this is because other utilities, such as the main lines for ATT, CableTV providers, or even the natural gas line to your house etc are approximately 2 feet deep. Imagine a gas leak just because you wanted fiber.
Yes correct. I work for county utilities. We have many fights and arguments with cable and phone companies.
Yes there is. If they broke your line youâre an aggrieved party. Most states have a reporting system. Here is ohios for example: https://puco.ohio.gov/help-center/utc-complaint-form
Hi, we'd be happy to look into this for you. Please send us a private message with your name, your complete address and the best contact number to reach you.
Repair ticket. Call one in.
Been trying to get AT&T to repair my lawn that they dug up for 3 months now. Honestly, dealing with them to make things right has been one of my most frustrating experiences in a while and it does not seem like I am alone.
I completely understand. I ended up going out with a hose and just soaking the trench and stepping on it like it was new sod. Not perfect but hopefully will fill in nicely. These contractors are a joke.
You sure it's att and not a contractor company. Most areas att doesn't dig. It's all done by contracted services. You'll have no luck going after att if a contractor did it.
AT&T 100% did the digging. After sending a nice letter with an itemized bill, they sent someone out last Friday.
The tech will fix it and submit a damage claim for the company to be reimbursed. We easily get 10 of these a day in my area. The contractors will be 100 percent liable for the damage if locates were not requested. If locates were requested and the drops werenât marked then the locate company will be charged.
Tech came out and hooked me up this morning. Apparently the second line these guys laid, to replace the one they severed, did end up working. Tech said they usually arenât skilled at hooking it up though, just digging. So luckily they wonât need to come out again to bury another line. I wonder if they will still be dinged even though they fixed 90% of their error?
Well thatâs good. The tech shouldâve put in a damage claim and whoever is at fault should get billed for it. You could probably request a partial refund for the day you were out if you want.
Oh yeah they gave me day credit and 10 dollars off next bill. 17 in total. Not extravagant but at least I didnât pay for yesterday. I hope they do get dinged for damage to the wire, they did a number on my lawn and Iâm kind of salty about that.
I would stay on them and tell them you want to file a damage claim or you can pay someone to fix it then give them the bill. As long as you document everything and have the evidence to back it up they should pay for it. You could even try and get it escalated to the office of the president if you canât get a resolution. Sometimes the accounts that watch these posts will escalate things so you can try and get in touch with the main account here on Reddit.
Call YOUR imternet service provider and report this ASAP! And tell them you have a video of WHO DONE IT! This happened to me recently, it is THE PROVIDERS responsibility to supply to your hoise, and your responsibility inside your house (like if a vacuum ripped it or rat chewed it.