atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Fiber Optics Internet for entire HOA possible?

I am getting pretty tired of Comcast dirty tricks with data caps and flaky service. I am wondering if its feasible for an entire HOA act as an ISP and wire fiber optics.

The HOA is in the process of installing underground power lines and the trenches will be there anyway.

I know there was an office building that I owned a condo, the entire office was wired with Fiber optics however all the units had to have a basic level of service(internet,voip phone, TV) that was guaranteed to the IPS in order for they to agree to put in the infrastructure.
https://gethotwired.com/

Just wondering if you have ever heard of a HOA getting fiber optics and how exactly it was structured?

For example, did the HOA pay for the fiber to be run then handed it off to another ISP, setup the HOA like its own ISP with the houses as customers, guarantee that all members in the community would be customers for 10 years of guaranteed service in an exchange for some company like windstream,XO, hotwire putting in the infrastructure,etc..?

Any information would be helpful.

Thanks.

HOA Home Owner's Association?

Here in western PA, Home Owner's Association are treated, by the utilities as necessary evils in the beginning of the move-in phase and are quickly ignored once each home owner is connected.

Normally, Verizon will run the fiber and make individual deals with the home owners. That's just the way they do it here.

We have some large college campus environments which do as you have suggested. The university will trench and lay the fiber and then all the terminations come to a large server room. From there, depending on the university, they either connect to the 'net via ISP or if they are DARPA connected, they become a node off the DARPA network.

I think you need to talk to the various ISPs to see if they would want to deal with an association and provide some discounts if everyone is obligated to connect to that provider. I would like to know if that actually works.

Rcaman

Funny that you mention this now. My Father in Law spends the winters in SW Florida and his HOA just contracted with a company to provide internet, cable TV and telephones to his HOA.

I don't remember who the provider is but they are unseating Comcast.

I believe he told me he should get faster internet and wider television programming and it would cost the same or maybe $20 per month less.

They have 240 units in their development. I will ask him for more details.

I would think that in order to get any real deals the fiber would have to be terminated somewhere a bunch of ISP/carriers could easily cross connect to it--a CoLo is an example. Which means it needs to be run and maintained once it leaves the property. If the fiber just terminates on premise then ISP/carriers would have to build out to it (or lease someone else's fiber) thereby limiting your choices.

You brought up an interesting idea I'm looking forward to learning how this works out.

This brings back memories of my days with cable and I doubt much has changed since then. Firstly you need to remember that Comcast has an exclusive contract(franchise) with the municipality and they use that to quash any completion. Why do you think they are able to screw you?

If it can be said that your homeowner association is private property- yes they can do whatever they want within the confines of the property, but at some point it has to be fed from someplace off-property and that's not going happen even if you are only looking for internet.

Back in the old days there used to be companies (us for instance)that would install and maintain a TV system for places like yours supplied by off-air antennas and/or a dish. Residents would pay the HOA, Condo or Co-Op associations. But now you are looking at not only video but phone and internet and that's not something that can be "manufactured" on site. All of those installations have been taken over and interconnected with the local cable companies long ago.

So my point is IMO it's very unlikely your idea is going to go anywhere unless something like Verizon wins a competing franchise which would make it financially feasible.

-Hal

You are talking abouit Verizon winning a franchise for my city over comcast or my neighborhood?

I am really only after internet and the only reason I even brought up cable TV or phone is because.

1. In my office building 8 miles away, there is a company called hotwire communication which provides all 25 floors of the office building with included fiber optic internet, VOIP phone service and TV service. I have talked to their lower level people and they told me they also provide these services to HOA but only if everyone signs up for like 10 years.

2. Google Fiber has I think the same thing. Internet, Cable TV and maybe phone service as well.

3. I think Windstream may also have the same thing.

So I guess some companies do have this service but it requires a entire neighborhood commitment I think.

I think they get their money from the HOA and then the HOA has to get the money from the home owners.
I was actually looking at a house in a gated community which told me the internet and TV was included in the HOA fees.

I guess my question also includes if the HOA can lay the wire directly and perhaps allow us to get Fiber optics internet in a less expensive way by having the HOA setup kind of like a mini-ISP not by having to run fiber to a co-location but rather hand it off to a real ISP at the front gate which is basically 1 cable for 200 houses.

I wish Google fiber would decide to come to my city but perhaps my local politicians are too greedy and want too many kickbacks to play ball here unfortunately.

As a previous ROE negotiator with Comcast it's unlikely they would provide service to a distribution service they don't own.

That's not to say it's unheard of, but it's very rare. As Comcast is structured to own the distribution, and the HOA will only own anything after the tap.

So i would be shocked actually if you could get Comcast to provide signal to an HOA fiber in the ground.

Can it be done yes, but the business modeling internally for Comcast doesn't lend itself well to that solution.

If you could find a DIA line (TWC/Charter) or maybye strike up a SLA with them... Ya might stand a better chance.

But again that is on the ROE side of Comcast. If they have Metro Ethernet you might have a better chance with that department... but I know as a general rule Comcast does not like to let its services be "resold" there are some legal work around on that, but they get detailed.

If you really need help on navigating this agreement, it's what I did for the past ten years was negotiate Comcast ROE agreements let me know.

Ya can send me a PM.

Thanks

California Phone
www.phoneinternet.org