AT&T Conduit Leasing

[andrewzich]

I've been working with the communities team to develop a plan for delivering Sonic service to the 10 townhouses in my HOA in Redwood Oaks. Right now the plan is almost ideal (using the same on-property underground conduit as AT&T) except the AT&T lines connect using conduit that passes under the street to the nearest utility pole while the Sonic proposal involves using aerial fiber to the side of one of our units and then several stretches of panduit along the exterior of that unit to reach the on-property conduit.

The residents in this unit have concerns about how this is going to look and I'm concerned about the reliability of this approach given that the aerial fiber will pass through the branches of a large redwood tree that periodically drops branches.

I'm wondering if it's possible to instead lease access to AT&T's conduit that passes under the street to alleviate both concerns. I believe the HOA is open to bearing the additional cost of this leased access if need be.

Several months ago I also saw Sonic doing some trenchless directional boring around this intersection and the utility pole in question. If leasing is not an option could it be possible to use this technique to install a new path from our property to the utility pole?

Proposed Panduit: https://imgur.com/a/jX3KPsm
Property & Utility Pole Location: https://imgur.com/a/TD6eAJ2

[dane]

Unfortunately, there would be no conduit for us to lease, because the obligation to offer conduit for leasing only applies when there are two empty (totally vacant) pre-existing conduits. That's never the case in any residential areas, where generally just one or two total conduits were placed.

We could bore across the road from the pole to place new conduit, but this is costly. From a budgetary perspective, with engineering, permitting, and then the work itself, you might budget $15,000-$25,000 for a small-scale project that included a road crossing.

[andrewzich]

Thanks for the reply, Dane! That's unfortunate to hear.

As for installing new conduit, would microtrenching (including the road crossing) be at a similar price point as well?

I just want to make sure I can tell my HOA I've explored all the options here.

Thanks again,
Andrew

[dane]

Does your City currently permit microtrenching? Many do not yet, despite the CA state law that now requires it.

But to answer your question about cost, yes, MT can reduce cost, by 25%-30% generally versus boring. Clearly an aerial drop is the most cost-efficient solution.

[andrewzich]

Thanks, Dane! Given those price points I agree that it sounds like aerial is definitely the way to go.