around here (NH) the utilitiy companies are required to have an easment on
the property that they run lines through (if they are underground). That
means that anything the property owner does on that part of the property is
at thier (owners) own risk, and the utility can work with no liability for
damages to items installed on the easment.

who pays for damage to systems on your and your neighbors lots will have to
be worked out between the two of you, but from alegal standpoint, my guess
would be that the owner is responsible for repairing anything that is
damaged - the easment provides a clear indication that that part of the
property is not avialable for permanent development of nay kind, so any
installations are done at the owners risk.... Not vey neighborly, ut thats
my guess.....

'Course, if you neighbor has the same cable company as you, he's probably
going to benefit from the repair too....

On another note:
it is very unlikely that the cable would suddenly go bad. If your conenction
was good, then got bad, what has most likely happened is that your cable
company has oversubscribed the line (this is a common business parcaitce).
that means that they sell more bandwidth than the line can deliver, on the
assumption that not eceryone will be online at the same time. A simple test
would be to log on at a really odd time, and measure your bandwidth (both up
and down). If it is the same as it is during peak times, there is probably a
hardware problem (but once again, not necesarily the wire). If the
throughput is better at off-peak times (like 2AM), the wire is fine.

Many cable companies will try to present the most inconvenient (nad
expensive) repair possible instead of upgrading their infrastructure. If
they can convince a customer to simply deal with the poor performance )or
even go to another provider), they don't have to make expensive (more
expensive than the wire replacement) infrastructure upgrades....... If you'e
got a friend that is net-savvy, have him/her hook up with the provider, ask
to see the detailed diagnostics, and make sure that they aren't yanking your
chain..... A quick call to your PUC or cable oversight group might also shed
som elight....

--JD


"Steve" wrote in message
...
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?


Steve