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What to do about a temporary orange or black phone line
If you are having new internet or phone service installed, you could have a temporary line strung across your yard.
When new service is installed, a temporary line (it's often orange, but can be black) is often laid to get your service connected quickly. Within 14 days, a work crew returns to permanently bury the line. Occasionally, bad weather or underground obstructions can slow things down.
If it's been more than 14 days or if the temporary line has been damaged, chat with us to report the problem.
When you chat with the repair agent, they will ask you for this information:
- Your name and phone number
- Your service address
- Date the temporary line was installed
- Status of the line
- Hazard or inconvenience?
- Damaged or at risk of being damaged?
- Any other relevant information
Temporary line FAQs
A temporary line is necessary to provide you service until we can get our specialized technicians out to bury it. The temporary line is often orange, but can be black instead.
Burying the wire is a two-step process.
Step 1 – We will work with local utility companies to identify gas, electric and water lines that are already on your property. The existing utilities are marked with painted lines and flags to help our crew determine where they will bury the new wire.
Step 2 – Once the utilities are located, a service representative will come to dig a trench and bury the line.
If you have circumstances which might prevent the crew from gaining access to the Brightspeed facilities at your location, such as a gate/fence or a dog, please contact us between the hours 10am-9pm (CT) Monday through Saturday or 12pm-6pm (CT) on Sunday. One of our customer service representatives will make special arrangements with you. If you have an invisible dog fence, sprinklers or other items buried on your property, please mark these so the crew will see it and can try to avoid that area.
No. You will only have to be home if you have locked gates or fences that would block access for the crew.
A work ticket will be created for scheduling the installation. You can look at the ticket on our Service Appointment Manager tool. Look for Exposed Wire Status.
Please contact us to report damage to the line.
Your wire burial may be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, such as underground equipment, frozen or wet ground, or underground obstructions. Once weather conditions permit, we will begin burying temporary lines ASAP.
Check for outages and troubleshoot problems with your home phone or internet service.
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