http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20269912 en Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:52:08 EDT Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:52:08 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20620987 kilometers : Had it installed. They use ADSL2+ which kinda sucks. The tech said a fiber install would have been easy if they had fiber pulled into the comm room. He told me to contact my HOA and ask them about it. I talked to the HOA manager and he told me to forward his contact information to Surewest. Surewest got back to me saying it was very unlikely they would run the fiber themselves so now I have to propose to the HOA and see if we can get it approved. If the fiber is there surewest would probably sell their FTTH services here.

How much would it cost to pull fiber from the streets into the community? I don't think they would have to dig anything up since there's already conduit in place. All of the copper from the dslam is fed through those underground pipes and up into the comm rooms of each building. We already have a high monthly HOA fee ( 306 bucks a month) so I don't see why they can't get us fiber when everyone else in our area has it.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20620987 Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:00:53 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20309075 kilometers : Sorry. It's hard to get good pictures with the iphone in a dark area. The door's are locked now so I can't get in.

I talked to Surewest yesterday and got an install appointment for service. According to their system my address is available for service but through a VDSL connection. I didn't think they did VDSL as well. However, it seems like an even more gimped version of what AT&T U-Verse is doing.

He said that I have a 20mbps limit. So in order to get the 10 meg package I could only have two TV sets (since they only do IPTV). And of course there's no HD at all since a steam requires 15mbps or so. I could have a DVR if I only pick the 6mbps internet package. And then the upload is limited to 768 Kbps on a vdsl connection. I don't see why it can't be at least a meg...

I am really hoping this is some sort of mistake on their end. I've read that Verizon uses copper cables and vdsl to deliver fios to people in MDUs except they have more bandwidth available and they serve the video through coax. I guess Surewest can't do it this way since their IPTV service uses up internet bandwidth.

One thing that does confuse me though is where the copper is at. I don't have any copper in my condo. In my master bedroom closet I have a little patch panel with cat5 cable and coax. And then there's two service cat5 cables that drop down from the basement. The other ends down into the comm room. From what I've seen in the comm room was a thick black cable coming out of an underground tube and going up into a hanging box. I guess it could either be a fiber line or 6 twisted copper pairs within a black tube? It would make more sense if it were fiber because there's only 6 homes per building and all are wired with cat5. I would think they could bring a single fiber line into the comm room and share it between the 6 homes. That would at least give each of us more than 20mbps to split between internet and TV.

I'll see what the install guy has to say when he gets here. I'm hoping they could come up with a better solution to serving their MDU customers with FTTH than this because I have heard from people with surewest FFTH that it's the best ISP they have ever had.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20309075 Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:44:29 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20284546 DaMaGeINC : No way to tell from the picture. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20284546 Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:04:51 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20278297 kilometers : Cool. So they could actually support all 6 units with one direct fiber line that way? Do you think I would still be able to get the 20/20 speeds and HDTV like everyone else can get or would they have to limit it in order to share the available bandwidth with the other 5 units in the building? I believe surewest uses fiber to feed both internet and television (IPTV =D) kind of like AT&T does with their VDSL, except of course with more bandwidth and no silly stream limitations.

I'll throw any technical info you guys give me in my next email in hope that they'll decide to expand their fiber here in the future. I mean, I'm so close. The houses behind the community are enjoying 20/20 speeds. ;__;

Edit: On the way to the mailbox I noticed on the building across from mine the telcom room was open and their tube has a black cable coming out of one of the tubes into a hanging box. Would that be fiber? If it is, I'm pissed that their building has one but mine has copper. I even took a few pics with my iphone.

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20278297 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:59:19 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20277931 LazMan : Having done a fair bit of work in a similar situtaion (look for Cityplace on DSLR - it's a condo high-rise with high-speed services) - here's my thoughts...

Running fibre to every suite isn't a viable option, nor is it required. Most likely a switch and/or router would be placed in the telcom room, and fed by fibre. They would then connect to the existing Cat5 drops, providing 10/100/1000 base service (native Ethernet) as they see fit. The feeder fibre would (most likely) run GigE, back to a core or aggregator switch in the LEC's closest CO or POP.

At least, that's how I'd do it. Cheapest to install, very effective, and uses the existing infrastructure.

Laz]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20277931 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:54:13 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20269912 kilometers : Hey there. I have a few questions about fiber and condominiums. I live in a condominium community in a new area of Natomas (in Sacramento). All of the new homes in my area have fiber to the home and are capable of getting Surewest's symmetrical speeds or AT&Ts U-verse. However, my condo community only has VDSL through AT&T. When I asked Surewest why they didn't do the FTTH thing here they said that it's most likely because the HOA has an exclusive contract with AT&T. However, they said their service may possibly appear in my community if the FCC passes that rule that breaks such exclusive agreements and if the community is able to support their equipment.

So this is where my questions come in. How would they wire the condo community with FTTH. These condos support 6 homes per building and are all wired with cat 5 and a patch panel thingy in the master bedroom closets. And the service lines go into a data room in each building that has a pipe in the middle with 6 twin pair copper cables sticking out. So would they just feed fiber through these pipes and connect them to our units ethernet cable? Would they just feed one fiber line through and share it between the 6 homes in that building? Or do you think they would just go the vdsl route like at&t already does in this community?

What type of equipment would they need in order to wire the community with fiber? Would they have to build anything within the community? I'm just trying to figure out if it would be possible to do or not because the guy from surewest who emailed me wasn't sure. I'll probably ask him if he could do more research on it because I really want to switch to Surewest.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20269912 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:01:15 EDT