It's true that it is a big expense and it's not an easy task. But, we just got a "franchise agreement" from our city for fiber. The way they calculate it is either on a per foot basis, or a percentage of revenues across the fiber. Naturally we did the percentage, but another company that brought submarine cable through our city is paying a yearly per foot.
So with the percentage based system, the cost are easier to consume for city wide. As for the boring, thats what I'm wrestling with right now myself. Back in 2000 or 2001 we laid conduits up a couple streets to get some fiber going. We didn't even have a franchise agreement with the city, but it was sanctioned by them anyways. What we did was to buy the pvc ourselves and hired a prison crew to dig. I live on a sand dune, so digging is much easier here than places with harder soil types. One of the excavators I used work with when I was an electrician came by after seeing the crew digging and told me he could have done it for less. So we compared notes, what it cost me for prison labor and his price based on the footage. He was one of the cheapest guys around for excavating, so the price he told me wasn't going to get any better. It turned out we were a bit lower than his price, with the exception that he would have broken sidewalks and possibly damaged pipes along the way, where we were a clean damage free dig. So yeah, it cost a lot to dig, but the conduits will be there for ever and you can do anything with the fiber that you can find a market for. And it keeps you in the game. Sadly, if wisps or isps don't start thinking about laying fiber, I think the future will be cut short. Not saying to give up on wireless but rather thinking about how to compliment the wireless with fiber. It's Sunday and I have to go back to work... Today we are learning to terminate fiber. George Scott Carullo wrote: > Again -- it depends where you are and who you have to deal with. within > the first 20 miles or so of our city you have to pay the city $2 a foot for > the permit and then some fee each month, directional bore each road with > its own permit and engineering etc. > > A L3 guy told me their costs to build out around here is about $35,000 per > mile. While I'm sure lots of people would love to use fiber after it went > from point a to be its not realistic for a smaller company to fund a > project of that size or even be allowed to do it (to run fiber here you > have to be a registered state utility company). > > Every single instance for every single ISP is going to be different and > suffice it to say we all should and probably already do our homework before > making any kind of large commitment or investment - bandwidth included. > > Scott Carullo > Brevard Wireless > 321-205-1100 x102 > > -------- Original Message -------- >> From: "John Scrivner" <j...@scrivner.com> >> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:16 AM >> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> >> Subject: Re: [WISPA] Cost of bandwidth >> >> Have you priced building your own fiber? If costs are that high and >> fiber transport is that scarce then you could certainly find many who >> would buy an "exit ramp on your information super-highway" if you >> build your own fiber. It has a life cycle of up to 30 plus years so >> you should be able to stretch out the loan over many years. I am >> looking at this myself. I think that it makes sense on long runs like >> this to consider fiber. Pricing has come down considerably. Just my 2 >> cents worth. >> Scriv >> >> >> On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 7:20 PM, Travis Johnson <t...@ida.net> wrote: >>> Because it's 200+ miles away and crosses state lines. It would be at >>> least 10 hops. Tower space is roughly $250/month around here.... so >>> that's $2,500 per month just for the towers... then you have >>> maintenance, equipment cost ($100k) and it would only save me about >>> $1,000 per month. >>> >>> Travis >>> Microserv >>> >>> Harold Bledsoe wrote: >>>> Those of you that are paying >$50/Mbps, what is keeping you from >>>> building your own backhaul to cheaper bandwidth (wireless, dark > fiber, >>>> etc.)? It seems to me that this would be a major consideration in > the >>>> business plan as this is a big MRC. Don't wait for someone to bring > you >>>> cheap bandwidth...go get it! :-) >>>> >>>> -Hal >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---- >>>> WISPA Wants You! 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