Burying Cable Drops
Do you ever see Madison trucks out in your neighborhood and wonder what they could possibly be working on? One project they could be completing is burying a cable drop.

What is a cable drop?
A cable drop is the cable that brings the high definition television or cable modem service in to the home from the facilities outside. Once service is established or if a new drop has to be laid, the cable will have to buried underground.

How long does it take to bury a drop?
Madison’s normal timeline for burying a cable drop is 6 to 8 weeks, although, throughout much of the year we can typically get a drop buried in 1-2 weeks. The longest wait times happen in the spring, due to all of the work that has accumulated over the winter. Conditions have to be right in order to get into the customer’s yard to work. However, there are many factors that can affect this timeline.

What are some Challenges and Setbacks?
One of the main factors that can both work for us and against us, is the weather. Drew Westerhold, a Project Manager at Madison says “When the ground freezes or it gets too cold, we can no longer bury drops.  If it rains, it then becomes too wet and causes us to shut down until it dries up.  In the winter and spring months, it may take a few days to dry out enough in order to get in the homeowners yard to bury the drop cleanly and efficiently.  We can’t control the weather and therefore we have to wait for the right conditions.”  Weather is the main reason we give a 6 to 8 week timeline for getting the cable buried. We devote teams of technicians to getting them buried once the weather allows. Time is also a big challenge. Some houses are straight forward and therefore the drop can be buried in 2-3 hours while some take 1-2 days to get everything placed.  Each house is different but we try and maintain the same level of work quality at each location. Westerhold states “We can go some weeks and only have a few drop buries come in and then other weeks they will come in one after the other.  Obviously when there are less, it gives us more time to catch up, however when there are a bunch that come in at one time, it causes some delay in the process.”

What happens if the drop is damaged before it is buried?
We understand things happen. You still have to cut the grass and complete other yard work during this time. If for any reason the drop is damaged while waiting for it to be buried just give us a call! We do what we can to get to your home as quickly as possible to repair the drop and get your services back up and working.