Had my first "oops" this weekend.

[john_bud]

You're lucky that wasn't a fiber optic bundle you cut. You would be liable for the repair and loss of service. Can be more than the house cost.....Do as Jsborn said --> call before you dig. Get all utilities marked then take pictures from the ground and the roof. Then stay away from those areas!

jb

 

[Farwell]

Shaley,
I tried the 192.168.100.1 address and got basic information on my modem but there was not any way to get any information about the signal. Any further suggestions?

 

[SkunkWerX]

You can even use twist-on connectors for the RG-cable.
Cut a short piece of what you dug up, and take it with you, so you can match to the correct connectors.

Buy a small box of RG cable and some connectors. Usually the box that the connectors come in will show how to strip it, leaving the proper amount of insulator, conducter and shield.

Cable companies are notorious at burying to unrealistic depths 1" to 2" is a norm with them. one of their best tricks in a new neighborhood is finding out they are using sod and coming out just before the sod is layed, running their lines on the dirt, with only a layer of sod covering. They will tell you they are making it "easy to fix". Sure, and much more easy to damage it.

TelCo typically buries jointly with power and is usually a min of 24" and in some case 36" (Varies by area, terrain, frost depth). As was mentioned, builders have been known to change grades after-the-fact, which can lead to shallow utilities. I have also seen the opposite, where the phone & power lines ended up 12 feet under when a builder decided to backfill what were going to be walk-out basements due to some building code issue.

As was mentioned, call before you dig. Do this once, they will mark your utilities, then using a copy of your property survey, make yourself a small map to better help avoiding them at a later date.

Finally, force the cable company to come and bury their line properly.

 

[N80]

I'm not sure you're liable for something no more than an inch underground, if it was truly just an inch. Still better to call ahead of course.

A few years ago I wacked our cable line with the tip of my shovel. It was literally just under the dirt. When the cable guy arrived he was really ticked off. Not at me, but at the previous installer. They had not even used a trencher to bury it. He knew that guy that did it and he was cussing him up and down. He fixed my hack job but also called in a trencher crew to do it right. They put it in about 12 inches or so.

I was still a dope for cutting it, but I didn't feel as bad since it had not been buried properly. It was also waaaaay out of place making a big cruve towards the pole. The cable guy was mad about that too.

Fortunately, at my cabin,where my tractor is, I know exactly where the water and power are burined. That doesn't mean that one of these days I won't cut that too . I guess cutting buried electric could be potentially lethal. Wonder how deep it is?

 

[wolfneck]

Often, the cable/phone company uses a subcontractor for this type of work.
Typically, they get paid by the running foot. It's a recipe for substandard work.
I learned this the hard way, since I would lose phone service every time my neighbor box bladed our driveway! Last week, I insisted they rebury the entire 350 foot length a foot deep, while I watched.

 

[shaley]

Shaley,
I tried the 192.168.100.1 address and got basic information on my modem but there was not any way to get any information about the signal. Any further suggestions?

There should be a menu on the sidebar for the signal page. If you don't have a Motorolla the page wil be different but it should still have it.

 

[dieselfuelonly]

I just can't see myself being liable for cutting a cable that was literally buried 1" under the ground!

The place where it was cut was also far from the telephone pole, it was about 50' from my house where I cut it. I would hope that there wouldn't be some random fiber line running straight across my yard! But you never know...

Anyway, I'll stop by Lowes or Radio Shack and try to get what I need to fix it temporarily. When talking with Time Warner, I told them that they HAD to come out here with a ditch witch and dig a new trench for it, because I kept on digging with my tractor and I pulled a lot more of the cable up, and the whole time it never got any deeper! Bad quality work like that really ticks me off...

 

[Farwell]

There should be a menu on the sidebar for the signal page. If you don't have a Motorolla the page wil be different but it should still have it.

Shaley,
The modem is a Ambit DOCSIS according to the page. There is a side bar but it asks for a user-name and password. I tried a few times to access the site using my password but got a 401 invalid error message.
It is no big thing but thought I would give it a try.
I use 2wire dot com when I want to check my speed.
Thanks for getting back to me.

 

[Tractors4u]

The place where it was cut was also far from the telephone pole, it was about 50' from my house where I cut it. I would hope that there wouldn't be some random fiber line running straight across my yard! But you never know...

I was doing some trenching in my yard and even though I had a good idea of where the water and phone lines ran, and knew I would not be digging anywhere near there, I called Line Locator anyway. I ended up digging up my neighbors phone line that crossed my property at a 45 degree angle to the road in front of our houses. He said that when he called it in that the phone company said something about me paying. I still had the confirmation number from locator, but from where that line was, I think they would have been hard pressed to hold that one against me.

 

[SnowRidge]

I just can't see myself being liable for cutting a cable that was literally buried 1" under the ground!

The place where it was cut was also far from the telephone pole, it was about 50' from my house where I cut it. I would hope that there wouldn't be some random fiber line running straight across my yard! But you never know...

Diclaimer: I'm not a lawyer.

OK, now that is done, to the point. I don't believe you can be held liable for damaging any utility cable that is buried on your property that is not within an easement. An exception might be a cable servicing your house that is buried to the prescribed depth.

But if some yahoo runs a fiber line outside of the utility easement just to cut a corner, for example, and it gets cut, I don't think you would be on the hook. In fact, I think you could and should demand they move it.