In my mind, canopy is best suited for distribution, and that the access layer its just as cost effective (Not to mention more stable and higher bandwith) to run fiber to the home. That is… in cases where one might be cabling up an entire sub division which is densely populated (As opposed to farm country).
Anyhow, I guess my question is. Has anyone done this? What sort of permits are required to bury cable? How does one get power and permission to put up a road side box to house your switch? Any hurdles I’m missing?
Also if we need to cross a road. Do we have to tear up the road to bury a cable across or is there a good tool to burrow under?
We ran fiber back when I was with another ISP.
Don’t want to rain on your parade, but it’s a big deal.
The city will likely require a franchise agreement. Different cities have different requirements and fees to operate a franchise. They will require insurance, performance bonds, workers comp insurance, financials, etc. You may be able to negotiate something else such as a partnership where you provide them wireless links to replace T1’s in exchange for access, or simply a vendor where you work with the City to provide access for residents.
You will need to get a meter from the Electrical Utility. They usually don’t care who they sell power to or where it is. You will want it close to a pole to minimize engineering and installation costs.
Directional boring is common. You will spec where you want the Christie boxes to go, and the boring company will get conduit to them. The problem is that there are other utilities under the street so you will have to pay engineering fees to determine the paths. The city may have all the documentation and the City Engineer may be able to plot the path. That would all need to negotiated in advance.
You will need to determine where you want to put the switches where they cannot be vandalized yet can be accessed. On poles is best, otherwise you will want to put them in a vault.
Then there are the PUC requirements. Once you plant infrastructure you are now a Utility. That creates a whole new set of problems and issues.
It takes deep pockets, and alot of resources to put anything in the ground unless it’s a new build. New builds are easier to deploy, but the Telcos and Cable Co’s throw money at the builder for access.
For all the reasons above, we went after MTU (Offices) and MDU (Apartments). The only negotiations are with the building owners.
Today, airCloud goes after MTU’s. One dish, drop to the Telco closet and install a VDSL switch. Cross connect to the punch blocks and drop a modem in the customers office. I have a building with one dish 3M x 3M feeding 11 customers - 1 @ 249/mo and 10 at 99/mo. The radio rarely goes over 2M. That’s 1249/mo from one building… We also have two executive office space buildings where one 3M x 3M connection feeds 60+ tenants. again, rarely does the link go over 2M.
If you are residential, MDU’s can be done the same way. One SM feeding an AP with an omni antenna and a VDSL switch on the central-most building. SM’s on each out building feeding VDSL switches in the telco closets. 8 port switches cost about 800, and 24 port switches cost about 1600. Modems are cheap.
No muss, no fuss. Building owners are happy because the tenants are happy. You are in control.
Hope that helps…
Jerry, what vendor are you using for your VDSL equipment? How has your experience been so far with them?
How do you manage users on the DSLAMs? Radius or such? Or is it possible to do the admin on the dslam its self. For that price I would just get a cisco switch, drop cat 5 and shutdown/enable ports as needed
The VDSL switches use existing POTS lines (no new wires) and allows per port bandwidth control. I can install a customer in 15 minutes.
Ok, I called town hall… they said they have nothing to do with, and to call the county road commission… did that… they say its a $40 permit, and you need to be insured…
This is a small town in Micigan, I suppose these things vary from state to state some?
Then I would say to seriously go for it. Find someone with a directional boring machine and have then punch some holes!!!