cable lines owned by time warner in condo? fiber coming to my city!

[Skiddex]

So, Kansas City, MO has been selected for the google fiber project and i have a couple questions on how this may be rolled out for anyone familiar with how and IPS may go about something like this.

first off, would fiber need to be run to each individual unit or would fiber be run to the building and be distributed over coax?

secondly, if it would go to each individual unit over coax, has anyone ever heard of an ISP company owning the actual lines in a building? do these usually have an expiration contract where ownership is transferred back to the building/home owner? i understand why a company would want to do this (monopoly on the building) but is there any way out of something like that?

****and lets try and avoid the commentary about HOA's and condo living****

 

[SunnyD]

Exclulsive Franchise Agreements. Look it up.

 

[Bill Brasky]

I've been in the same position and it's an exclusive contract between the condo manager and the ISP, like SunnyD said. Your situation may be different, but if we tried to hook up a different modem and connect to a different ISP, it wouldn't even work.

 

[guyver01]

If Time Warner ran the cable lines in the building... Time Warner OWNS them..
When the condo cancells their contract, Time Warner COULD come and remove every mile of cable in the building. They probably wont, as it costs alot of money to re-wire.

 

[Skiddex]

thanks for the info. under this press release, it sounds like we can easily get out of it, its just a chance that time warner could come and pull and the cables if they desired.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-277763A1.pdf

so onto the first question...would fiber be run to each unit or would an ISP (say google) install a fiber switch at the building and then link into the existing cable infrastructure?

 

[guyver01]

so onto the first question...would fiber be run to each unit or would an ISP (say google) install a fiber switch at the building and then link into the existing cable infrastructure?

Unless a company is now manufacturing Video Boxes or Modems for FIBER.. they would have to install an ONT.. Optical Network Terminal... which would hook to the existing infrastructure.

It's FTTP.. Fiber to the premise.

FTTH .. Fiber to the home... is a misnomer.


Here's the FIOS ONT..

Fiber comes in on the left... coax out on the right..

 

[Texashiker]

If Time Warner ran the cable lines in the building... Time Warner OWNS them..

Most of the time, cable/dsl providers do not wire buildings. That is done by a building contractor.

I have heard of cable providers providing the physical cable to the contractors, that way the cable is up to current specs. But to wire an aparmet/condo, your talking about lots of man hours. Its easier to let a contractor do it.

 

[guyver01]

That's why i said IF..

If it's a building built in the 70's - 80's .. Time Warner probably wired the whole thing... noone else would have been familiar with running their equipment..

If it's newer construction.. 90's+ .. there's a chance the contractors might have wired it.

 

[ElFenix]

Most of the time, cable/dsl providers do not wire buildings. That is done by a building contractor.

I have heard of cable providers providing the physical cable to the contractors, that way the cable is up to current specs. But to wire an aparmet/condo, your talking about lots of man hours. Its easier to let a contractor do it.

they don't really want to own the lines either.

i have seen where condos or apartments have contracted with a certain provider and getting a different provider is a bitch and a half.

 

[Skiddex]

thanks for all the updates. just some history, our building over 100 yeas old but was bought and full renovation to lofts in about 2004

 

[Lifted]

thanks for all the updates. just some history, our building over 100 yeas old but was bought and full renovation to lofts in about 2004

Have you seen how long it's taken Verizon to get FIOS going? I doubt Google is prepared to do it any faster, so you're probably looking at 5 years (at least) before there are more than a few people testing it.

 

[Bill Brasky]

thanks for all the updates. just some history, our building over 100 yeas old but was bought and full renovation to lofts in about 2004

We live in the same building.

 

[FoBoT]

the press conference was in KC Kansas , google picked Kansas City Kansas, not Kansas City Missouri

 

[RedCOMET]

the press conference was in KC Kansas , google picked Kansas City Kansas, not Kansas City Missouri

I thought I read on Ars Technica a few weeks ago that Google was doing both KCs. So it may have changed.

As for the OP, if the buildings have been renovated it may be possible for google to run their own fiber and place what ever gear they need on the premise, unless as was mentioned before their property owner has an exlcusive agreement with another provider. If that's the case, then its outside your control to get the google fiber.

 

[FoBoT]

I thought I read on Ars Technica a few weeks ago that Google was doing both KCs. So it may have changed.

they may have, i was just a bit miffed when they did the press conference in KCK


looks like it was planned for both but they couldn't coordinate it
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/05/google-fiber-expands-to-the-other-kansas-city.ars

The Kansas City Star, which had reporters in attendance at the press conference, noted that the delay in announcing the Missouri side of the buildout was largely due to the different structure of local utilities. On the Kansas side, the utility is publicly owned, which made for simpler negotiations; KCP&L is privately owned.

 

[Texashiker]

they don't really want to own the lines either.

When I was working for a cable provider in houston, I was sent out to an apartment to hook up a cable modem. The signal between the tap and the apartment was terrible, there was no way internet was going to work.

The apartment manager was called over. She told me that the unit had burned a few months ago and that the hold building had been rewired. The contractor probably used some junk cable instead of good quality cable. The manger went on to tell me the company managing the apartment might have to take legal action against the contractor to get the building rewired yet again.

When someone pulls cable through an apartment, there is a lot of responsibility that comes with that. Its not like a single story house that is easy to rewire.

 

[Skiddex]

We live in the same building.

do i dare ask what building you live in?

 

[Skiddex]

they may have, i was just a bit miffed when they did the press conference in KCK


looks like it was planned for both but they couldn't coordinate it
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/05/google-fiber-expands-to-the-other-kansas-city.ars

yeah, i think i was reading that as part of the agreement KCP&L in missouri was going run most of the fiber above ground on their telephone poles. something like 80% of the fiber runs will be above ground.