High speed internet is destroying neighborhoods
The epicenter of internet construction nightmares for homeowners is on Lambs Lane in Southeast Austin, where last October a flash flood allegedly caused by Google's construction crews blocking nearby storm drains brought two feet of water into the home of Arnulfo and Dolores Cruz, causing $100,000 in damages. Hundreds of other complaints cite yard and property damage, trespassing, and construction vehicles blocking access to driveways.
Residents cannot get compensation until they find out which of a litany of contractors and subcontractors working in the area dumped giant piles of dirt on their front lawns, dug open holes or trenches and left them uncovered, or used their yards to store construction equipment and supplies without permission. With Google, AT&T, and Time Warner Cable all upgrading infrastructure, it is difficult to determine who is responsible for what. That makes assigning responsibility for damages very difficult. In some neighborhoods, electric and water lines were severed by construction crews as well. Some residents have even resorted to calling police when crews trespass repeatedly on private property without the courtesy of prior notification or identification.
http://stopthecap.com/2016/03/01/google-fibers-contractors-create-headaches-austin-residents/
Residents cannot get compensation until they find out which of a litany of contractors and subcontractors working in the area dumped giant piles of dirt on their front lawns, dug open holes or trenches and left them uncovered, or used their yards to store construction equipment and supplies without permission. With Google, AT&T, and Time Warner Cable all upgrading infrastructure, it is difficult to determine who is responsible for what. That makes assigning responsibility for damages very difficult. In some neighborhoods, electric and water lines were severed by construction crews as well. Some residents have even resorted to calling police when crews trespass repeatedly on private property without the courtesy of prior notification or identification.
http://stopthecap.com/2016/03/01/google-fibers-contractors-create-headaches-austin-residents/
It turns out that the competitors of the company installing it have finished a half dozen towns, at least one of them much bigger than Dunedin, and the company installing it here - Chorus - have completed installation in a bunch of smaller towns. I'm told by a local electrician that Chorus are doing a terrible job, instead of doing fibre to the door of each house they're splitting a fibre cable between houses, something which they'll have to redo across the entire nation in a few years, and are refusing to guarantee their connection speeds with some people experiencing xDSL-like speeds.
Anyway, we've got construction crews running up and down the street, stereos blaring from very early in the morning until the end of the day, digging up holes, blocking roads, low speed zones, that kind of thing. It's annoying as all hell, but nowhere near as bad as that crap!