by
dane » Fri May 10, 2024 2:13 pm
Looking at the maps of the region in our engineering GIS system, the primary issue that impedes deployment in the portion of West Portal that we do not currently serve is the inaccessibility of most of the utility poles. Another secondary issue there is the MUNI train power lines overhead. On Taraval and Ulloa, there may be clearance issues utilities such as Sonic must comply with for safety which may make it impossible to deploy on these key streets. (Existing utilities seem to be ignored despite clearance issues.)
But if those issues can be solved, inaccessible poles are really a challenge. Unlike most of SF, the poles on many streets in West Portal were placed in the back yards of homes, and this was done without any provision for access, vehicular or otherwise. Ideally when the poles are behind homes, there would be an alley, allowing for access to the utilities, and sometimes garages and garbage collection. But those facilities are at the front of the lots, while just the utility poles are in the back, stranded and inaccessible.
Deployment on inaccessible back-of-lot poles is very, very difficult because we must gain coordinated unlocked access (with no dogs in yards, etc) to every backyard, whether it has a pole in it or not, all at the same time, over many days over multiple months. This must be done for the pole survey, the make-ready work on each pole, then the stainless steel strand placement, the lashing of the fiber, the splicing of the fiber, and finally, for drops to homes as needed. To do each of these tasks, you need access to every single yard all at once because you're working to bring a new strand or cable from one to the next. Without uniform and consistent access to every single backyard, it's just not possible.
And I will say, we have tried very hard to make this work. In San Jose for example, when construction crews couldn't gain access to back yard poles, City staff offered to accompany us, and then members of the police department, all assisting in attempting to gain access to yards. It just didn't work. People would deny access to the construction crews or City employees accompanying them, or just wouldn't be home, gates would be locked, dogs roaming yards, etc. And when at least five visits have to be made to every yard over the course of many months - and then ongoing when new customers were connected, it just became impossible to achieve.
The only condition that I could see where this could be possible would be if we got 100% of the residents on board, to sign off and allow us to survey, build, splice and also place a drop to every one of the homes in the entire area. We'd need access to all yards, no loose dogs, and complete coordination to assure unimpeded access for all steps of the process. And I'd want to see at least 70% of those homes agreeing to take fiber service, or the economics of something like this just wouldn't work out either. And there remains the possibility that upon survey, one or more of the poles is unsafe, which could then preclude deployment too.
Clearly, we want to build to every home we can. But placing utilities in an inaccessible location is a real barrier to that. While I'm skeptical that all neighbors will cooperate and the engineering will all work, I'm certainly willing to engage in dialog on the idea.
