Utility Conundrum

I’ve got a bit of a conundrum about utilities … specifically, the Cable TV utility.

In the last few days Ginny and I had a major drainage issue in our back yard fixed.   We hired a landscaper to install drain tiles and pipe to collect water that was pooling in the back yard and route it into the storm sewer (they connected the sump pump to the same pipe).

Before the landscapers started, they called the J.U.L.I.E. service to mark all the utility wires to avoid interrupting service.

Late last week, J.U.L.I.E. came out and marked all the necessary parts of the lawn and the landscapers started their work.

Yesterday they finished the work and the lawn looks great.

Last night Ginny and I settled down to watch the premier of Warehouse 13 and were presented with a black screen with a message box floating around indicating that TiVo was searching for a signal on the cable.

I called Comcast and they had me try a few things but were unable to get the signal working again.   Unable to figure out what was wrong, they setup a service call for next Saturday evening.

As it happens, I just received a new digital converter box for another TV from Comcast … so I decided to hook that up to see that worked.   If it did, this would isolate the problem to the TiVo.

After a little futzing around with the cables, I was able to get the other TV working with an analog signal (directly from the coax cable, not using the cable box).   The cable box, however, didn’t work.

Another call to Comcast and the cable box was working also.

I then tried hooking the TV that’s usually connected to the TiVo directly to the cable … but didn’t get a signal.   This indicated that there was a break in the line going to the family room.

That got me a bit annoyed with the landscaper … they were supposed to be careful about that.

Then it occurred to me … the cable going to the family room isn’t coming from the cable systems neighborhood box.   It’s branching out from the box on our house, going around the patio, and then going into our family room through the garage.   J.U.L.I.E. wouldn’t have marked that line because it wasn’t their responsibility.

So here’s the conundrum … who’s responsibility is it to fix the cable?

The landscapers did cut the line … but they didn’t know the line was there because it wasn’t marked by J.U.L.I.E.

Comcast might argue it’s the landscapers fault … but Comcast did install the line, but it didn’t get marked because it wasn’t coming from the neighborhood box.   Comcast did, however, install the line.

I think I’ll call the landscaper and discuss the situation.

In the mean time … I’ve dragged the cable from the basement (which works, up to the family room and hooked   it up to the TiVo … so we can watch and record normally.   We just have to make sure we don’t trip on the cable.

2 thoughts on “Utility Conundrum

  1. Detreon Roberts

    Hi there,

    We’d be happy to look into this for you to see where we can help . Can you please send us an email with the telephone number on your account as well as a good contact number? Also, please be sure to include a link to this post.

    Best,

    Detreon Roberts
    We_can_help@comcast.com
    Comcast Corp Office

    Reply
    1. david

      Thanks Detreon … I was contacted directly by Comcast support to offer help. Luckily our landscapers were able to fix the problem.

      Reply

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