Gigabit Berkeley

[jappelman]

There's a Bronco Communications truck at Fairview & Wheeler installing wire this morning. Any chance this is a Sonic contractor laying fiber?

[dane]

There's a Bronco Communications truck at Fairview & Wheeler installing wire this morning. Any chance this is a Sonic contractor laying fiber?

Yep, that's us. I heard from the team that Oakland has issued some permits and that we are underway there, it's good to finally see forward progress!

[jappelman]

There's a Bronco Communications truck at Fairview & Wheeler installing wire this morning. Any chance this is a Sonic contractor laying fiber?

Yep, that's us. I heard from the team that Oakland has issued some permits and that we are underway there, it's good to finally see forward progress!

Thanks for confirming - that's great! Fingers crossed for an activation email soon...

[ogorki]

Would be grateful for any updates for southwest Berkeley, 94702, south of Ashby and west of Sacramento. Is that part of the west Berkeley hold-up, with associated permit problems etc., or are things moving forward gradually there?

Kate

[Traviscb1998]

Any information on 1152 Sutter 94707. Looks like a lot of nearby folks have fiber already

[speedy_dsl]

Good to hear the news about the claremont area, given that my house is about a 5 minute walk from that street hopefully that means my street will be live soon.

[thomasheld]

Is FDA52 included in the Southwest Berkeley stall, or is there a separate update?

[gmerritt]

Bronco/Sonic make-ready activity on 63rd between Shattuck & MLK the last couple of days, and on 62nd between Shattuck & Dover.

Note that the Berkeley/Oakland border wiggles in strange ways through here, with both 63rd & 62nd, between Dover & MLK, split: east end of the block Oakland, West end of the block Berkeley. Yesterday Bronco was working on the east (Oakland) end of the 63rd block (700's addresses in Oakland); this morning they were working the west (Berkeley) end of the same 63rd block (1800's addresses in Berkeley).

-Greg

[waiting...]

Yes, you're both correct in your guesses here: we believe that it would be counter-productive for us to ask our members to get engaged in the process. Sonic is working closely with the City staff as we work to obtain the necessary permits to complete the fiber deployment there, and that process is ongoing. I don't think that having folks hassling City leadership or staff will help with that process at this stage.

Why has the city issued permits for some areas but not others? Are there issues relating to specific parts of the city? You say you are working closely with the city but then a few pages back you said there's uncertainty around the time frame for permitting and activation in west Berkeley. I would imagine working closely with the city means you have insight into the process so you could provide clarity and certainty.

If the city is moving slowly, making things difficult, or not providing necessary information so you can give us accurate predictions, then we should contact our representatives. This is an important issue. Access to information is a fundamental human right at this point and they need to know that their constituents care about this so they can prioritize it.

I'm familiar with local building and planning departments taking their sweet time approving permits and other aspects of the building/planning process and I have observed that direct intervention makes a big difference with respect to how fast they get things approved.

[speedy_dsl]

I concur with waiting... on this, especially as someone who personally knows the mayor and several of the other council members including my own since I used to intern at city hall.