Google Fiber contractors generate hundreds of complaints from Austin residents

Google Fiber (NASDAQ: GOOG) may have caught the hearts of consumers wanting cheaply priced broadband services, but in Austin, Texas, the service provider is raising the ire of local residents as contractors cause damage and traffic congestion.

Hundreds of Austin residents, according to an ubergizmo article, claim that Google Fiber is leaving behind construction debris and blocking storm drains. In October, a number of residents said they saw flooding in their homes.

Out of the 363 complaints related to Google Fiber's construction and installation efforts in Austin, 254 were filed last year with the city's 3-1-1 hotline.

Among the common complaints were home, landscape and lawn damage, trespassing and other kinds of disruptions, including trucks blocking private driveways. A previous FierceInstaller report said that MasTec, a company Google contracts for fiber installations, left debris behind after construction that blocked storm drains.

Austin is just one area where Google Fiber's buildout has affected residents as a similar situation has taken place in Raleigh and Cary, N.C. One Cary resident said that construction crews cut off her water supply when they began trenching a ditch in front of her house to install fiber.

Complaints about Google Fiber's installation processes appear to be rising. For example, Raleigh's right of way services coordinator said he gets about 10 complaints a week.

For more:
- see this ubergizmo article

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