INDIANAPOLIS — Homeowners are concerned with the time it's taken to repair their yards after they were torn up as new fiber lines from AT&T were installed on Indianapolis' northeast side.
In a neighborhood near Castleton, they were trying to get faster internet from AT&T; however, the company ended up leaving quite a mess.
Rocks, mud, and standing water are still in Monica Crump's front yard. AT&T came to her residence in late March and upgraded the neighborhood to fiber, after sending each home in the community notice. A few weeks later, the company started digging.
Crews ran a cable from the street to an in-ground box in the back corner of Crump's lot. The construction wrapped up in April, but there was a mess left behind in the front and back yard.
"When they came through they leveled it out and it's causing all that water to sit there, so before that water would go into the sewer," Crump said.
Crump says she's tried calling customer support and the number on the notice card, but so far nothing has been done.
"It's disappointing. I know everyone works really hard to keep their yard really nice, and it's just really irritating," she said.
Other properties in the Eagle Nest neighborhood are also dealing with torn up yards and other issues.
RTV6 found a new fiber box that was just left dug out. And on another property, water keeps leaking non-stop from the ground after AT&T installed the fiber box.
"It smells like a sewer; we're starting to get some organic greenery growing here," Crump said. "They told my neighbor it could be a water break or a sewer break, but nobody has done anything. It's pretty much been underwater for about a month."
AT&T released the following statement to RTV6:
We have been working to expand and enhance our fiber network to deliver ultra-high speeds to the Eagle Nest and surrounding area, which has required us to dig and bury equipment. Unfortunately, recent severe weather has delayed our restoration. We will continue to work to repair any damaged areas and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Crump says: "There was a big urgency to put this into our neighborhood but there was no urgency to clean it up."
Unfortunately this isn't an uncommon issue when new utilities are being installed. If customers have questions about AT&T's work, the company suggests they contact AT&T's customer care team at 1-800-331-0500.
