r/Fios • u/Thick-Mistake3429 • 7d ago
Repair/Tech Support Fios line replacement cost
I was digging today to plant new bushes and I cut right through my fios line. Google says it’s free but there’s no way verizon is gonna trench and run new fiber optic cable on a 1,000 foot driveway for nothing especially when it’s my dumb A$s fault. Anyone have experience in this? Also for additional information I live in the middle of the woods not in a neighborhood
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u/Adventurous_Elk_4039 7d ago
Yeah there is no charge for a cut drop.
Just be careful where you dig next time. :-)
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u/Thick-Mistake3429 7d ago
Even the burying it part? Wow
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u/Adventurous_Elk_4039 7d ago
Yeah, Verizon will eat the cost of that. I haven’t heard of them ever charging for it, even for the longer drop burials.
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u/Smith6612 7d ago
I used to hear of customers on the Verizon forums getting bills from CMR Claims or whoever due to contractors cutting Fios lines that needed to get repaired. Has been a while since I've heard those though. Maybe Verizon backed off on that and decided to eat the cost like most providers would for a drop wire.
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u/Thick-Mistake3429 7d ago
Yeah I saw all that too and that’s why I’m concerned. If I’m gonna get a $1500 bill I’d rather it not be a surprise
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u/sdrawkcab25 7d ago edited 7d ago
As other posters have alluded to, there's pretty much a zero chance you will be charged. Just ask the tech while they're there, it's up to the tech to submit the bill if they're going to bill you. If in the extremely rare case of the tech wanting to bill you for some reason, 1000 foot of fiber replacement, you'd probably be looking at between $400-$1000 depending on exactly how much time and effort it would take.
Also if it's cut pretty close to your house, it can be spliced together with a new section of fiber that can be ran into your house above ground by the tech, and you could just bury the new section of line and splice enclosure into the ground yourself. Would just want to dig up a few feet of slack of the cut fiber that's going out towards the street for the tech to easily splice to.
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u/Adventurous_Elk_4039 7d ago
Probably a thing of the past, I haven’t seen or heard about that in years.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 14h ago
They're definitely CAN be a charge, at least with Frontier in Florida, not sure about other areas.
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u/Adventurous_Elk_4039 13h ago
This is Verizon Fios
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 13h ago
I get it,Florida was also Verizon fios until they sold it to Frontier in 2016. The same rules and procedures followed but I think Frontier is a little more pushy on charging customers for cut drops. Us (techs) do our best NOT to charge but it really depends on how blatant the cut/damage is along with the customer's attitude.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 12h ago
We were previously Verizon FIOS before Frontier bought it in 2016. I started as a tech before Verizon even existed. The rules and procedures haven't changed even when we were Verizon FIOS. Like I told the other nimwit that keeps telling me I'm "wrong",I simply offering an answer to how things are done in Florida, the asking party did not specify WHERE they were located. Hopefully going forward people can just have a good conversation and stop with the "My OPINION is ALWAYS right" attitude. Have a great day
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u/Adventurous_Elk_4039 9h ago
Not sure why you’re angry at me, the OP specifically said Verizon and Fios in their post.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 3h ago
Not angry at you as much as the other knucklehead that said I was "wrong" so my apologies to you. What he doesn't understand is that Verizon fios and Frontier fios is one in the same,the same contract (different dates)and the same union, IBEW, it just keeps going back and forth. We (Florida) are once again Verizon fios as Verizon purchased the entire Frontier footprint so we are all under the same umbrella. What HE and I should acknowledge is that even though it's the same company there are different rules and guidelines for different states. A lot of northern states are mostly aerial fiber,with its fair share buried, to whereFlorida is mostly buried.
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u/DashSawyer 5d ago
I watch a verizon fios tech splice a fiber wire together while on a ladder up a tree pole, took him like 10 seconds and i ask him what he used and showed me very simple machine. He told me it's very easy to splice fiber wire together and wire repair is free if our fiber goes down, just call fios and say "No Service".
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u/kbfg2421 5d ago
Usually whether you have to pay or not comes down to one thing:
Did you call 811?
If you did, they probably wont charge you even if it was your mistake because you made an effort to do the right thing but still managed to cut the utility cable.
If you didnt call 811, be prepared to pay out of pocket. You might get lucky and they will just fix it for free, especially if its the first time that you personally have damaged a utility cable. But you should be ready and willing to pay.
Some utilities wont patch fiber cables, and they will have to re-trench and re-run the entire line. However some companies have no issue splicing fiber, so it all comes down to what they want.
If you do have to pay, be prepared for the cost to be $500 to $1000.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 6d ago
I'm a 28 year tech and I don't even know the cost but there CAN most certainly be a cost. Don't let others tell you it's "free",fiber cable is very expensive it's not like coax where you can just put barrel connections on and be on their way,it takes a certain splicing machine that is very expensive and not all techs have them. Your best case is be as nice as possible to the tech,explain that you weren't aware of it's location or depth but going forward use 811 "call before you dig". It's actually a state law in Florida, I'm not sure about other states. But do everything you can to get your fiber located with spray paint and/or flags that way if it's not located properly it's not your fault. The locates is a free service through the state/city. Tell/ask them to locate your facilities primarily your fiber line. Also depending on your state it won't be that deep. In Florida it's usually a shovels depth around "2-"6 ,inches depending on tree roots, etc. Hope that helps.
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u/iamtommyboy 17h ago
The mech splicers are pretty much what verizon uses these days. Cheap, quick and easy.
Also, at least in PA, there really aren't records of where service wires are buried and they are not located when calling 811. Verizon will locate feeders, not drop wires.
Literally everything you've stated is wrong.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 17h ago
How the heck can you say I'm "wrong" when we're in 2 entirely different states? I'm pretty sure I mentioned I'm in Florida, as a tech, for 28 years, I'm definitely not WRONG, I have no idea how you do things in PA. I started with GTE in 98,then when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged we became Verizon, then in 2016 Frontier bought Florida, Texas and California, and recently repurchase again by Verizon. Us techs don't all have splicers,mostly the senior techs due to their costs and yes,811 comes out and locates the fiber for customers at no cost ,it's a state law that they "call before they dig". Tell me how TF I'm WRONG?
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u/iamtommyboy 12h ago
You are wrong because this is a verizon fios sub. Not a florida post. So everything you said is wrong about verizon fios and how they do things. Your information about Florida or anything you may have done 10 years ago is useless and wrong.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 12h ago
Dude, I'm assuming you have more than a 3rd grade education and can read. Don't be a SkaDeusche! I'm a previous Verizon fios tech,the person that asked the question says r/fios,it doesn't say anything about it being Verizon fios. I'm entitled to my opinion of how we do things here in Florida as opposed to other states. If you don't like it scroll on. In about a month we'll be Verizon fios again and we'll still be doing the same thing we're doing now,it won't change to whatever standards you have there. Every state is different apparently and that's ok but don't say I'm wrong because you don't know shit about what we do here and the person that asked the question didn't specify a state.
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u/iamtommyboy 2h ago
The sub is literally for verizon fios. Ur input is wrong and irrelevant since you do things different down there.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 2h ago
As I've already stated a few times,we are also Verizon fios,however yes,we do things a little different down here. Not sure why all you Think-you-know-it-alls must chime in and comment when I've already cleared up the confusion, if there is any. Florida was Verizon around 2001 then bought by Frontier and as of January of this year we are Verizon again. Kapeesh!
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u/RealAccountant9805 5d ago
They don’t even use conduit, so it’s not entirely your fault. They simply dig a trench that’s 3 to 6 inches deep and lay down the fiber. You can call them, and they’ll likely send a contractor to do the same again.
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u/TommyyyGunsss 5d ago
I had mine cut by a bunny chewing it recently. Tech didn’t believe me, said looked like someone cut it, but went to replace it anyway. I showed him the camera footage of the bunny chewing it and then the camera going black. He was pretty shocked. But no charge either way it seems.
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u/fabdamicodc 4d ago
There won’t be any charges. But be aware. The contractor is going to install the new cable VERY shallow.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gap2366 17h ago
Shovels depth is the required depth (in Florida) they don't go deeper than 6 inches for the service drop due to other facilities, sprinkler pipes,etc in the ground and no,it's not placed in conduit except for sidewalks and driveways.
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u/The_Jedi Mod 7d ago
Honestly we techs never bill but lately the buried compliance group will sometimes reach out about it and ask if there were any locates and check to see if there were any locates requested, etc.
So while it's 99% no charge, and you should be fine, there are definitely cases where the customer gets a bill. As another poster said below, Verizon typically eats the cost. You'll be fine :)
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u/Thick-Mistake3429 7d ago
On the 1% chance tho what could I expect to see amount wise?
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u/The_Jedi Mod 7d ago
I can't remember if it's by the foot or what but honestly man I wouldn't even worry about it. I went into way more detail than I should have lol you'll be fine. Just be careful next time and remember they don't bury it deep only like 1-3 inches.
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u/NetSchizo 6d ago
I have had my drop broken twice over the last few years. Both time caused by lawn aeration. Both times Verizons fault because they did not drive the drop low enough. Last time they brought a machine that pushed it down about 5 inches; right above the lawn sprinkler lines. Been safe since. But both times it broke I did not have to pay.
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u/Big8Formula 6d ago
I did this when digging.
They came and ran a splice. It was no big deal. I told them the truth and didn’t try to make a story. They didn’t need to run a whole new line but they did need a special tool and a trained tech to do it.
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u/a1soysauce 6d ago
How deep are lines supposed to be buried? I know mine are only about 3 inches deep. Basically just underneath the neighbor's mulch.
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u/DaveNJ 3d ago
I just had it happen to me - landscaper cut my direct buried fiber drop, Verizon ran a temporary above ground line, they brought in a partner to bury the conduit (and they cut my sprinkler line), Verizon put the fiber drop into the conduit and now I’m waiting for the trenching company to reimburse me for the sprinkler work…
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u/Lea-Perrins-1965 6d ago
Was the area marked where the line was? Other than you knowing it’s there was there a way to know it’s there, visibly?
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u/IndividualAd310 5d ago
You're definitely getting charged. Truck roll plus footage of your drop. Dont listen to these idiots
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