Spectrum installed by a combination of boring and hand digging. Since we are not new construction but a finished and occupied subdivision some town rules apply. No open holes at night, which means no trenching unless you can fill it in the same day you open it, and no excavators in a finished and occupied subdivision. Thus, directional boring is the only acceptable method for adding a utility to an occupied subdivision. In each case that I saw in my own sub (Spectrum is adding fiber all over town here) when they hit a line (gas, water, etc.) it was because it was improperly marked. Excavators are not allowed by ordinance for utility additions such as this specifically to prevent damage to existing utilities.
No electrical was hit in my own sub, but in adjacent subs I believe they did as I'm told. In each case of a water line break, sewer line break, internet break, or even gas--the respective utilities were out quickly for a repair. This was done under a well planned project with the town and all the utilities were on high alert. All in all despite the breaks the inconvenience was minor and brief. The "Miss Dig" utility marking service, USIC, had to eat a lot of this cost since they failed miserably in marking many of the utilities. The gas company had its own marking subcontractor and doesn't use USIC.
I watched intently as they guided the boring rig up, down, right and left and it is astoundingly accurate. They placed "boxes" similar to a buried water meter box every other home and ran the bore from box to box to box. In some cases with a straight run, they ran the bore about 6-8 homes and then dug for the box once the bore was made but before they pulled the conduits.
I'm about the only home in the 32 home subdivision where they did not have to touch as much as a blade of my grass, I lucked out. However the connection box that will serve my home (if I choose to go with Spectrum) is located on the other side of the property line with my neighbor. They dug that hole on a Wednesday by hand, ran into an unmarked gas line, and then called the gas company out for re-marking. By the time they did that it was the end of the day, so with the "no open holes" rule here, they filled in the hole. On Thursday they re-dug the hole by hand again, but this time the guy "nicked" the gas line. No leak, but the gas company was called. They don't like ANY damage to a gas line, so they cut out the nicked part, and put in a splice. By the time they did that it was the end of the day, and they filled the hole in. On Friday they were at it again, dug the hole out by hand again, but the boring proceeded slower. At the end of the day, they filled the hole in. Finally on Saturday they dug the hole out a fourth time, and were able to install the box and conduit.
All in all an exceedingly costly project. If open trenching were done it would have been all by hand, and they'd still be doing it and the costs would have been higher, but there's no way you can open such a trench and fill it in a day, so directional boring is pretty much the only thing they can do.
On new construction here, they all use open trenching. They love to dig trenches.
. Tech support in Thailand has no idea why 
