Berkeley fiber (Shattuck Ave)

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
3 posts Page 1 of 1
by ichen » Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:56 pm
Hello,

I'm sorry to add to the number of posts inquiring about fiber availability here. However, I haven't been able to get a clear answer from calling sales (was told a long list of possible reasons, with no clear indication what might be the actual the reason or a timeline) so this might be the best way to reach out.

I live on Shattuck Ave between Cedar St and Vine St. Recently, Sonic fiber has become available in the area literally all around us. Based on friends who recently got fiber and looking up the website for fiber/pre-order availability, fiber is up or coming on Shattuck Ave the block south of us and two blocks north of us, and also immediately east and west of us on Vine and Cedar. We haven't heard anything since flyers a long, long time ago. We can't even pre-order at this point.

My question is: Does Sonic plan to extend fiber to my block or will it remain tantalizingly close? If it's still happening, what are the main impediments? If our particular situation is problematic for Sonic fiber access, we would like to know so we can explore other options.

Some more info:
We might be the only residential unit on this two blocks of Shattuck, so I wonder if the utility lines or permits might be different in this very commercial area. When we moved in, we actually found out Comcast isn't an ISP option. Not that we particularly liked Comcast but when the only internet option is 1-3mbps down, it's pretty sad. Further, we live in a multi-unit apartment building. There's already been an effort to see if collectively signing up for an ISP might attract another company to serve to us, so there's definitely interested potential customers if Sonic fiber could reach us.
by alxyang24 » Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:17 am
I think the main problem is that Shattuck does not have Utility poles which means everything is most likely undergrounded which Sonic apparently does not do at the moment presumably due to cost. You can see if you can get FTTN from sonic that is off of AT&T's network. This is similar situation to people on MLK
by ich » Wed Oct 17, 2018 3:43 pm
That is what we currently have. The FTTN Sonic service is so very slow. Other people in the building have AT&T, which, as you know, is exactly the same. I haven't had to wait this long for simple websites to load for many (10+) years before moving to Berkeley.

It appears that apartments two blocks south of us on Shattuck can preorder fiber. There is also no above ground utility poles there. How is Sonic able to provide fiber in those cases? Is our situation hopeless?

We are considering switching away from Sonic, but would like to not get locked down in a year-long contract if fiber is coming.
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