Hunt Communications Resident FAQ

Cable companies contract with Hunt Communications to bring new cable networks or improved cable service to neighborhoods like yours. If you’ve seen a Hunt Communications team on your street, it’s likely that a cable construction project is soon to begin. 

While we know that construction of any kind can be disruptive, Hunt Communications is committed to making the process as painless as possible for you and your neighbors, so you can enjoy your improved service faster and with less hassle!

The Hunt Communications team prides itself on efficiently connecting you to better cable service. We coordinate with local authorities in advance to streamline our process and ensure compliance with construction permits, restrictions, and regulations. An uninterrupted installation process can be completed in about two to six weeks, depending on the size of the development.

However, unforeseen delays can and do arise. Property access issues are among the most common of these delays. The cable construction and installation process requires Hunt Communications teams to work and dig in residential areas. If your neighbor refuses to give our team access to their property, you may find that the project takes much longer to complete. 

In order to speed up the process and begin enjoying your improved service more quickly, it is best to allow our skilled team members the access to your property that they need to do their work efficiently. This may include:

• Permitting our team to work on or near the street outside your property, and/or on an easement adjacent to your property. 
• Allowing our technicians indoor and outdoor access to your home during your household’s installation appointment.
• Compliance with any posted road closures, detours, or traffic restrictions due to construction.
• You may see brightly colored flags placed along your street marking utility lines during this time; it is important that you do not remove them for the safety of our team and to ensure your utility services are not interrupted.

We know that construction in your area can be a nuisance, but Hunt Communications strives to minimize interruptions to your daily life as much as possible. With your patience and cooperation, your neighborhood will be connected to better cable service soon!

An easement legally grants another person, entity, or business the right to access someone else’s property. Most properties have easements in place so utility companies like Hunt Communications can access utility lines. In some neighborhoods or urban areas with limited space, an easement may be created for neighbors to share a driveway. Most often, your property will include an easement between the sidewalk and the road. While you may own your property, your state or local government is the party responsible for granting our teams access to an easement on your property. 

If you’re seeing a Hunt Communications team in your neighborhood, your state or local government has permitted Hunt Communications to construct a cable network in public right-of-ways and easements in that particular jurisdiction. 

In some instances, we may be required to separately secure the rights to construct on private property, such as in a multi-family apartment building, gated communities, or across a private road, but by and large, our work takes place on easements. 

To keep the construction and installation process running smoothly, we strongly encourage you and your neighbors to allow our teams to work on the easement adjacent to your property for the duration of the project. If you have further questions about the scope of a project in your neighborhood or your rights as a property owner regarding easements, please contact your local city administrator.

Should the construction process cause damage on a customer’s property (i.e. water line damage, sprinkler damage, sewer damage, landscaping, driveway or sidewalk, etc.) Hunt Communications will repair it or hire a professional service provider to do the repairs at no cost to the property owner. Hunt Communications will work directly with the customer to resolve any and all issues that arise.

Hunt Communications strives to leave our work areas exactly as we found them pre-construction. That means our team will re-bury utility lines and cables, restore any ground cover, and remove our equipment in a timely fashion post-installation.

MG stands for “megabyte.” To get an idea of a megabyte’s size, consider an MP3 music file or a Word document. A single megabyte can hold about 50 two-page Word documents filled with text. An MP3 of a three-minute-long song is usually about three megabytes. 

GB stands for “gigabyte,” which is one thousand times larger than a megabyte. A single gigabyte can hold about 300 MP3 files, or about 50,000 Word documents.

File size matters when considering data transfer speed. The larger file sizes typically mean a slower transfer of data. Fiber optic cables, like the ones used by Hunt Communications, are sturdier and more secure than traditional Ethernet or HDMI cables, have lower distortion rates over long distances, and can transfer greater volumes of data at high speeds. The average fiber optic cable can transfer data at speeds of up to 10 GB per second —that’s 17,500,000 Word documents transferred in the time it took you to read this paragraph.

Not necessarily. When conditions get too hot and dry, grasses will go dormant. Dormancy means active shoot growth will stop. Grasses may turn brown, and some may die, but the crown, rhizomes, and roots are still alive. During this time, you want to apply just enough water to keep the turf alive until conditions improve. The best recommendation when the lawn is in dormancy is to provide ¼ to ½ inch of water every two to four weeks. Keep an eye on the weather conditions because you do not want to bring the turf out of dormancy too early. Breaking dormancy early actually will drain reserves within the plant if conditions remain dry. Once it cools down or rain starts to fall, shot growth will begin again, and the lawn will green up.

Texas law requires excavators to contact Texas811 two business days before excavating because every project that involves digging needs to be located before construction teams break ground. Texas811 alerts nearby registered utility companies to go to every worksite and mark where their underground utilities are located. This helps prevent unintended consequences from digging into an underground utility such as injury, damage to property, and service outages.

• White - Proposed Excavation
• Pink - Temporary Survey Markings
• Blue - Potable Water
• Green - Sewer and Drain Lines
• Purple - Irrigation and Slurry Lines, Reclaimed Water
• Red - Electrical Power Lines, Cables, Conduit, and Lighting Cables
• Yellow - Gas, Oil, Steam, Petroleum, or Gaseous Materials
• Orange - Communications, Alarm or Signal Lines, Cables, or Conduit

Each utility company notified on a ticket sends its own locators (in-house/third party) to mark their underground utilities in the area where digging will take place.

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Fiber optics is the technology used by internet services to transmit information as pulses of light through strands of fiber made of glass or plastic over long distances. Fiber optic broadband has historically been limited in where it is offered, though the U.S. Department of Energy is evaluating the feasibility of expanding fiber optic networks.

Optical fibers are about the diameter of a strand of human hair and when bundled into a fiber-optic cable, they’re capable of transmitting more data over longer distances and faster than other mediums. It is this technology that provides homes and businesses with fiber-optic internet, phone, and TV services.

A fiber-optic cable contains anywhere from a few to hundreds of optical fibers within a plastic casing. Also known as optic cables or optical fiber cables, they transfer data signals in the form of light and travel hundreds of miles significantly faster than those used in traditional electrical cables. And because fiber-optic cables are non-metallic, they are not affected by electromagnetic interference (i.e. lightening) that can reduce speed of transmission. Fiber cables are also safer as they do not carry a current and therefore cannot generate a spark.

Understanding Gas Line Repairs: Unlike water and sewer fixes where the damaged line is exposed, shut off, repaired and then service is restored, gas line repair involves a more intricate process. When a gas line is damaged, the first step is to shut off or pinch off the line to stop the service. Following this, the utility company exposes the damaged line, conducts necessary repairs, and then performs a meticulous pressure test and line clearance before reconnecting the service. Additionally, the utility company typically revisits to reignite pilot lights, ensuring a seamless restoration of service.