Joshua Redstone recently found out how long it can take to get rid of old, low-hanging phone and cable lines outside his home in Cambridge’s Central Square.
It started last November, when a gust of wind caused him to lose power.
“A branch fell off a tree and bounced and hit the utility lines and messed up the power lines,” he told GBH News.
Redstone said the power company, Eversource, immediately arrived to fix the power line. But to deal with the rest of the wires, he started started making calls.
It took five months to get the cable wires fixed or raised up so they weren’t hanging low over his property and the street.
Problems with low-hanging telecommunication lines are common in cities and towns across the state. Sometimes it’s the result of leaning utility poles, and the fact that a second utility pole is often installed to reinforce an existing one without actually fixing it. The problem has led to thousands of calls to 3-1-1 lines in recent years in various municipalities in and around Boston, not to mention the cost of fire departments responding to downed wires to check whether any are electrical wires and therefore dangerous. Figuring out who is responsible to fix address the problem is complex, and solutions often take weeks or months.
State regulations establish timeframes for completing the transfer of lines from an old pole to a new one, but delays are common as several companies are often involved, and the chain of command is often blurred.
Redstone quickly learned that the rules governing who’s responsible for downed and low-lying wires are complicated and arduous, he said.
“The first thing is understanding that there are regulations that do specify minimum heights. And then the second thing was, I contacted the Department of Telecommunications. And even though on their website, it makes it look like you need an account with Verizon in order to file a complaint with them, when I called the phone number, it turns out you don’t,” he said.
JT Scott, Ward 2 city councilor in Somerville, has likewise had to troubleshoot low-hanging wires in his district. Such lines are frequently knocked down by vehicles or branches, causing disruptions in the city.
“One of the causes for those low-hanging cables is something that is absolutely endemic here in Somerville, which is leaning poles — poorly maintained utility poles,” Scott said.
Complaints are common. Boston’s 3–1-1 data, for instance, shows that there were 1,762 service requests for downed and low-hanging wires during the last year. That’s nearly five calls a day on average.
The city of Somerville has received 247 requests related to low-hanging, abandoned or loose wires over the last 12 months, according to 3-1-1 data. Denise Taylor, the city’s director of communications and community engagement, said the vast majority of those complaints are related to telecommunications wires. She said the Somerville Fire Department inspects all reports of loose or low-hanging wires to confirm that there are no live wires.
Scott said that as a city councilor, he’s had to strong-arm companies by delaying permission to install new poles until older or double-poles are fixed or removed.
“We have a truly stunning number of leaning utility poles here,” he said.
“Eversource, as a company, routinely will come and, quote unquote, fix the problem by installing what’s called a double pole, which is, instead of removing the old pole and fixing it, they will just install a new utility pole and staple the old one to it. So now you end up having two poles, one of which is leaning at an angle, stapled to one that’s standing up straight, and those wires are still hanging low,” he said.
Scott says his district is densely occupied, and several companies use the same utility poles for new customers.
“It can be tricky to identify which wire goes to which apartment. As a result, that ends up with what we call ‘bird’s nests.’ It’s large bundles of unused, low-voltage service cables that are just wrapped around the top of these utility poles,” he said.
Scott said all of these issues around overhead utility wires are a financial burden to the city, causing cost overruns and construction project delays. He said that’s been the case with a redesign project along Washington Street.
“In some cases, that’s delayed city construction projects and cost the city over a million dollars in engineering change orders, as our projects couldn’t move forward the way they were originally planned until Eversource came in and completed their repair work,” he said.
Eversource told GBH News that addressing double poles is a complex, multi-party process that requires coordination among utilities, telecommunication companies, cable providers and municipalities.
Eversource spokesperson Olessa Stepanova said that in Massachusetts, most utility poles are jointly owned by electric and telecommunications companies. “When a pole in Eversource’s electric service territory needs to be replaced, Eversource is responsible for installing the new pole and transferring its electric facilities first,” she said.
She said once work is done, the utility contacts a mutual notification system and all other companies using the pole must transfer their equipment. Verizon is responsible for removing the pole, she said.
The state Department of Public Utilities and the Department of Telecommunications and Cable both have jurisdiction over utility pole attachments and double poles. State law requires that each municipality have an inspector of wires, and tasks such inspectors with the supervision of every wire over or under streets, among other requirements.
The DPU records and reviews filings of downed wires, and can issue fines to electric utilities if it finds that the utility did not act appropriately. The state uses a combination of local and state resources to address issues of low-hanging cable (telecommunication) wires and have them repaired. Residents and community leaders are asked to call 3-1-1 to have their concerns addressed.
Since January 2023, four municipalities have raised concerns related to low-hanging wires or double poles, according to DTC’s consumer complaint data: Erving in December 2024; Stockbridge in April 2025; Revere in May 2025; and Falmouth in April 2026.
Verizon, Astound Broadband and Xfinity and did not comment to GBH News for this story.
Governor Healey’s Municipal Empowerment Act, filed in January 2025, addresses the double-pole issue and would increase penalties imposed (up to $1,000 per occurrence) when poles are not removed within 180 days. The bill is currently in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Scott said double-poles are meant as a temporary solution, but some remain in place for over a decade or more.
“It’s been very frustrating because there’s really no accountability ... obviously my neighbors are concerned when it ends up costing the city millions of dollars. I have used every tool that I have at my disposal to generate pressure on Eversource to come do the right thing,” he said.
And for residents like Redstone, it’s not only a safety issue, but an eyesore.
“It’s a visual cost,” he said. “It makes a street feel a little crowded and busy and less open to the sky. I know that the regulations that I found just talk about fire safety, but there’s a cost to having these low lines that I think goes beyond just whatever safety is mentioned in the regulations.”
