Because they've already got cables on those poles, so they can add a new service drop immediately. Sonic must engineer and place a new strand, the steel "messenger" wire, which the cables are then lashed to. This takes six to nine months, typically.mazieres wrote:So as expected, there is no issue with my utility poles. I watched Wave string a brand-new cable from Van Ness Ave. (where Sonic has fiber) to my house this morning to deliver their gigabit service to my house. Why was Wave able to use these utility poles literally the morning after I ordered service, while Sonic needs 9 months to string a fiber 100 feet from a building that already has it?
Note also that Wave's ability to add a drop doesn't say anything about the current engineering load with the poles; they could be overloaded and we could be disallowed from attaching, while a current user can still add drop cables to homes they pass with existing plant. (But I've got no indication of any issues with these poles, they're not marked bad in our data, we just overlooked them and now have to circle back to include them in our build.)
Sounds good!Anyway, I'm sad to cancel my Sonic service. I'll certainly miss my 8 static IP addresses, the fax service, the phone service, and the generally non-patronizing attitude of your support staff--all of which were worth way more to me than the $30/month I'll be saving on wave. I look forward to switching back in 6-9 months as soon as you can bring fiber to my street.