Moisés Nacio wrote:
"Steve" wrote

Here's my potential problem:

My cable signal, both for TV and internet was very bad. I phoned the
cable company (Comcast), and the tech, after doing some readings on his
meter said that I had a very low signal, almost no signal, and traced it
back to the cable company's box down the street. He said that they
would have to replace the underground cable from that box to my house.

They would have to cut thru a neighbor's lawn and my lawn to get the
cable to my house. They will wait until all the utility companies come
out and map out the underground work so they don't do any damage. All
that sounds reasonable. Here's where I don't know how it goes.

My neighbor and I both have underground sprinkler systems. I have 8
sprinkler heads on that side of the house, my neighbor probably has
double that since it's his entire front lawn, and the cable would be
installed across his entire front lawn.

The cable company, as they make their cuts in the ground to lay the new
cable cannot possibly miss all the underground sprinkler hoses. There
is likely to be some, or a lot of damage. We know where the sprinkler
heads are, but we can't possibly map out the underground water lines.

Suppose that they cut my neighbor's line? Are they responsible to
repair it? It's so very likely that they will slash someone's
underground water line.
I like my neighbor. We don't have a relationship or anything, we're just
people who live next to each other, but have respect for each other's
property. I wouldn't want to see him have a hassle over this.

The fact that the cable is out is not my fault, and it's not my
responsibility to repair it. I'm not getting charged for the repair,
since the cable company has to maintain it's network, but what about the
damage that they do?

Will they say it's not their fault because I can't show where those
underground water lines are?

How likely are they to deal with my neighbor, if his sprinkler water
lines are cut and damaged? He's a totally innocent bystander here.

How likely am I to get compensated when they do damage to my lines?


Around here, they have right-of-ways, for utilities. They run through the
adjoining properties, 5' on each side of the property line, this gives them
room to get equipment in, if needed.

My cable was run, then about a week later they came to "bury" it. It's only
about 2" under the surface, a machine cut the sod and placed the cable. You
couldn't even tell they cut it, except for the grass was pressed down from
the tires on the machine.

I think you're making a big issue, over a non-issue. But, it was based on
the "techs" information. To my knowledge, cable companies are not allowed
to run cable where ever they please.


Hi,
Same in my neighborhood. cable, Phone, Electric, Gas pipe/water pipe all
run in certain way. "One call does it" can mark all the cables and pipes.
Don't know about sprinkler. I guess if they damage it, they'll fix it
but they do this all the time, so they'd know how to what to do.