Sonic.net

Seems like literally every street around Newbury St in south Berkeley got fiber, but we didn't. What's up?

I took a look at the engineering for the area, and it appears that there are overloaded utility poles that block deployment in that area. Poles on Russell, Newbury, Shattuck and Ashby all preclude deployment. Until those poles are reinforced, or unless the utility were to allow us to reinforce them, I am afraid we're stuck.

This issue affects a small percentage of poles, but it has an outsize impact because a single overloaded pole means the network must end prior to that pole, leaving everything beyond it unreachable. And if/when that pole finally is reinforced or replaced, in many cases it's not feasible to do an entirely new construction effort for a small section. The outcome varies, but the delay and higher costs just aren't good - nor is leaving an unsafe pole in place any longer than necessary. As a result, we are focused on either getting the poles reinforced, or obtaining permission from one of the pole owners to have our own contractors reinforce them for us to resolve the issue so we can build.

Hi - I am a longtime Sonic customer on Newbury street asking for an update about this. Any progress, including Sonic getting permission to work on the poles? We don't want to be left out. Thanks.