Keep Your Project on Track and Your Connection Intact

Whether it’s your next home improvement project or a big move, getting Arvig involved saves time, money and your internet connection.

Spring and summer in the Midwest are prime-time project seasons. It’s the time of year when we can finally step outside and tackle all the home improvement projects we spent the long, cold winter months dreaming up.

We all know the season is short, so when you finally have the supplies, the tools and the time, it can seem like you need a mad dash to get everything done. But before you repair, renovate or remodel, don’t rush. There’s a crucial step to add to the top of your checklist: protecting your vital internet connection.

Anyone who’s tackled a home improvement project knows that things don’t always go according to plan. Whether you’re taking down drywall, re-siding your home or digging post holes for a new fence, your internet drop line—the direct connection from the Arvig network into your home—is vulnerable to being cut or damaged.

Internet lines are typically buried underground alongside other critical utilities such as water, gas and electricity. Because your drop line is mostly out of sight, it’s easy to forget it’s there—until it reaches your house. While the line is mostly buried, it has to come out of the ground and be attached to the structure at some point. The closer you are to the structure, the closer the line is to the surface. Lines often run along exterior siding, under decks and patios or through interior wall cavities to reach your router.

When demo day arrives, those hidden pathways put your connection right in the contact zone. Here’s a closer look at common routing paths for internet lines:

• Decks and patios: Installers frequently route the line underneath deck joists, through patio lattice, along ledger boards or just beneath the soil where stone pavers or concrete slabs are poured. When a homeowner builds an addition or replaces a deck, those lines are right in the path of saws, post-hole diggers and wrecking bars.

• Through exterior and interior walls: The line penetrates the exterior wall (often near the foundation, basement or garage) and can run through interior wall cavities, behind drywall or through floor joists to reach the central Wi-Fi router or fiber ONT (Optical Network Terminal) inside the home.
• Along exterior trim and siding: Before going inside, the cable often runs along the exterior water table, behind corner posts or underneath siding lap joints.
• Roofing and soffit work: Replacing trim, gutters or roofing is a leading cause of line damage. Fiber lines are frequently routed up exterior walls and tucked along fascia boards or soffits. When roofing crews replace drip edges, tear off old trim, or drive long fasteners through eaves, it’s easy to slice or pin hidden lines without realizing it.

From sliced line to restoration: What to expect
While it’s easier than you might think to accidentally cut your drop wire, it’s much harder than you’d expect to reconnect it. For the internet service provider, restoring the connection takes specialized tools, time and team effort. For the homeowner, there are service interruptions and possibly unexpected costs.

Because an internet service line can resemble an extension cord or an old coaxial cable, many assume it can just be snipped out of the way and spliced back together when the job is done.

In reality, modern internet infrastructure—especially fiber-optic technology—works very differently. Fiber carries light through hair-thin strands of pure glass. Rejoining a cut line isn’t a quick DIY patch with electrical tape. It requires specialized fusion-splicing tools that weld glass strands back together at a microscopic level.

Cable or coax infrastructure is less complex, but it still requires time and technical skill to restore.

Fixing a severed coax cable isn’t as simple as twisting two wires together. A technician has to strip back the damaged layers, compress specialized weatherproof connectors onto each end and join them with a high-frequency coupler to prevent signal interference and moisture damage.

Where drop lines get cut most
Surprisingly, most line cuts don’t happen because someone was being careless. They usually happen during three everyday home scenarios where no one realized a line was in harm’s way:

1. House siding projects: Replacing siding, wrapped trim or exterior insulation is one of the most common causes of severed drop lines. Exterior boxes and internet lines are mounted directly to your home’s outer walls. When siding crews rip off old panels or drive long fasteners through exterior walls, they can easily slice or pin the line without knowing it.
2. Interior and exterior remodels: Knocking out a wall for an open floor plan, building a deck addition or putting in a new patio often involves working near buried or concealed wiring. Cutting a line during demo day creates an immediate outage that standard tools can’t fix.
3. Moving or relocating structures: Whether moving into a new home, building a detached garage or relocating a shed, uncoordinated site prep often leads to buried or overhead lines getting snagged by heavy machinery, grading equipment or delivery trucks.

Living in an apartment, condo or townhome?
Multi-dwelling units pose their own unique internet challenges. Unlike single-family homes with buried yard lines, fiber in apartments and townhomes often runs discreetly along indoor baseboards, hallway conduits or shared utility spaces.

• Watch where you mount: Driving a drywall anchor into a wall to mount a TV or heavy mirror can slice through hidden micro-fiber lines running behind the drywall.
• Don’t yank or paint wires: Pulling at tacked-down cables to hide them or painting heavily over delicate indoor fiber can snap the glass strands inside.
• Loop in property management: Before doing any interior updates or moving heavy furniture near utility boxes, check in with your building manager or Arvig to ensure your unit’s internet connection stays safe.

Why a snipped line takes time to fix
When an internet drop line is cut without Arvig involved ahead of time, getting back online isn’t as simple as dispatching a routine technician. It triggers a multi-step process:

• Mandatory state safety locates (811): By state law (Gopher State One Call), before Arvig can put a plow or shovel in the ground to install a replacement underground drop line, other utility companies (gas, electric, water) must be notified to mark their lines first. This legal waiting period takes 48 to 72 hours, leaving your house dark for Wi-Fi while you wait.
• Avoidable out-of-pocket costs: While Arvig covers repairs caused by storms, natural events or utility marking errors, unannounced DIY cuts or uncoordinated contractor damage result in out-of-pocket construction repair fees.

In general, Arvig responds to service calls within a 24-hour window. When a customer contacts the Help Desk, the customer service representative relays the information to a technician and a service appointment is scheduled. The timeline for service restoration varies, depending on the severity of the damage. In some cases, service can be stored within one to three hours. More complex incidents can take up to 24 hours and might require additional resources, such as splicing and construction teams.

The pre-project checklist: Keep moving forward
You don’t have to put your dream project on hold—you just need to loop in your service provider early. Treating Arvig as a partner in your remodel, siding job or move ensures everything stays on schedule and on budget. The vast majority of line-cutting incidents can be avoided with a little advance planning and preparation. It comes down to this:

• Siding or painting? Tell your contractor: Point out the Arvig drop line and entry box on the side of your home to your siding crew before they tear off old materials.
• Digging or building? Call 811 first: Installing a fence, deck or addition? Contact Gopher State One Call at 811 at least two business days before digging. It’s free, legally required and keeps your property safe from damage incidents.
• Planning demo day or a move? Call Arvig 2–3 weeks early: Reach out before you swing the hammer. Our team can safely relocate, unhook or temporarily protect your line so work proceeds smoothly.

Build with confidence
Your projects should bring fresh energy and value to your home—not unexpected repair bills or Wi-Fi blackouts. By taking a moment to protect your connection before starting your project, you can keep your momentum moving forward smoothly from start to finish.

Planning a remodel, siding job or move?
Let us help you prepare! Visit arvig.com/support or call our team at 888.992.7844 to coordinate your line protection before project day arrives.