94598 pushed back 6 months from Dec to June 2024...

[drbubbles]

Does anyone else see this for 94598, was originally October 23, then Dec 23 now June 24. Any idea what the hold up is?

[sdnick484]

Out of curiosity, where are you seeing this date? Is this in the Fiber Status Tool, and if do, what phase are you in? I am in 94519 and we are in Construction which had slipped from 9/23 to now 12/23 over the last few months. I occasionally see Sonic trucks and signs, but have no clue where the hold up is.

[joss]

I'm in 94901. When my status turned to "Construction" in July and the install date was Dec 23, I was elated. Then the date slipped to January 2024. OK, still cool. It's now slated for March 2024, six months out. Sigh.

I get it. The status page indicates that there are variables involved; permits, etc., so I will wait it out.

But recently, I received a post card exhorting me (and I assume everyone in San Rafael) to sign on to get Sonic fiber. I understand why current customers received that. It's just a mass marketing mailing. But, I think Sonic is doing itself a disservice by offering 10GB fiber to customers of other providers who might sign up only to find out that installation is not now, and not soon. It is not going to leave them with warm feelings about service levels.

[drbubbles]

I see the date in the Fiber Status Tool page (where it switched from "pre-construction" to "construction" in August).

Likewise, because it is Sonic I am totally fine waiting it out too (and am happy for the privilege, symmetric 1gb would be a dream let alone 10gb! None of the other offerings are symmetric where I am)

(Also by then maybe Ubiquiti will have released more fun toys for 10gbps )

Still, would be good to know what the holdup is due to, whether it's a construction issue or a city issue or just a prioritization issue (I hope it is just prioritization and not a permitting problem).

[dane]

The unfortunate answer is that the causes of delays vary widely. We are building the first all-new residential utility infrastructure to be deployed since back when Cable TV was installed. It is a very complex process behind the scenes. And it has become more difficult due to regulatory changes in the last five years, as well as staffing and workload levels at various agencies we interact with.

But I can assure you that a large group of people here are looking at the progress and challenges daily, up to and including myself. I get a daily report with any FDA schedule changes, as well as any reasons for delay. Here are a few examples excerpted from a recent copy of the report that I get each morning, so that you have an idea about the level of scrutiny we place on every project:

...
FDA 34 / Concord / PM - Brandon P
Project Delays changed from: None
to:
Cannot close Cx apps without needed bypass poles placed. This will impact Go Lives / Met with POCs for the City of Concord. They provided criteria for bypass pole installation approval. Following the steps to receive bypass pole authorization. Will update when the first bypass poles have been approved to be installed.
...
FDA 45 / Concord / PM - Brandon P
Project Delays changed from: None
to:
Aerial construction stopped until we have bypass pole installation approval from the City of Concord. Go-Lives impacted and delayed as result. / Met with POCs for the City of Concord. They provided criteria for bypass pole installation approval. Following the steps to receive bypass pole authorization. Will update when the first bypass poles have been approved to be installed.
...
FDA 19 / Los Altos, Mountain View / PM - Travis D
FDA 20 / Los Altos, Sunnyvale / PM - Travis D
AIR changed from 2024-05-13 to 2024-04-29
FDA 3 / Los Altos, Palo Alto / PM - Travis D
FDA 4 / Los Altos, Palo Alto / PM - Travis D
AIR changed from 2024-05-31 to 2024-05-17
...
FDA 28 / Inglewood / PM - Brandon P
Project Delays changed from: On Hold. No bypass poles allowed. Legal thought there may be a path forward in the next two weeks
to: Legal Status – Trading Redlines. Inglewood accepts the pole replacement timeline and the low number of bypass poles required. Hope to have a resolution in two weeks.

The project management team's goal is to keep the dates which are then displayed in our Member Tools fiber status section as accurate as we can. If they say it is forcast to be done in a month, it could be, at least by us - but if it then gets pushed a month out, and then a month out, and then again - this would be because of a delay generally outside of our control but that based upon the information we have at the time, that we think can be surmounted within a month, but then for reasons generally outside of our control, we cannot and it slips again. This is generally delays related to permits or approvals from cities or agencies. Could be CALTRANS, the City, a water district, Caltrain, Union Pacific, PG&E or SoCal Edison, etc, etc.

Delays can also be caused by weather and by crew availability, by errors in engineering or fieldwork as well as issues like a parts or materials delivery issue, where we think the supplies are all here but then it turns out something was mislabeled or mispackaged or inventory is inaccurate and items must be re-ordered and there is a resulting delay.

-Dane

[drbubbles]

Thanks for the detailed response Dane, I appreciate these delays are out of Sonic's control.

[miloseaa]

...
FDA 34 / Concord / PM - Brandon P
Project Delays changed from: None
to:
Cannot close Cx apps without needed bypass poles placed. This will impact Go Lives / Met with POCs for the City of Concord. They provided criteria for bypass pole installation approval. Following the steps to receive bypass pole authorization. Will update when the first bypass poles have been approved to be installed.
...
FDA 45 / Concord / PM - Brandon P
Project Delays changed from: None
to:
Aerial construction stopped until we have bypass pole installation approval from the City of Concord. Go-Lives impacted and delayed as result. / Met with POCs for the City of Concord. They provided criteria for bypass pole installation approval. Following the steps to receive bypass pole authorization. Will update when the first bypass poles have been approved to be installed.
...

-Dane

So that's what is going on.
I preordered in June 2023 for Concord, 94520 and I think the first estimate was October 2023. Then it jumped to December 2023, but now it's August 2024! I was wondering what the heck happened. Well that sucks but explains it for me.
Now I'm not sure what to do since I will need to reup soon and I would rather not give Xfinity any more $$$.

Anything we can do to prod the city and expedite it for for you?

[mdamm]

Cannot close Cx apps without needed bypass poles placed. This will impact Go Lives / Met with POCs for the City of Concord. They provided criteria for bypass pole installation approval. Following the steps to receive bypass pole authorization. Will update when the first bypass poles have been approved to be installed.

What is a bypass pole and where can I buy them? I'll start putting them up.

[drbubbles]

I couldn't find any examples of a bypass pole by googling, but Northern California Pole Sales, Inc. in Modesto appear to have a comprehensive selection of poles available right now. I'll maybe buy one and have it delivered to the Mayors office with their card pinned to it, Failing that I can probably organize a van with suitable decals and some overalls (like the A-team)

[knewman]

...
The project management team's goal is to keep the dates which are then displayed in our Member Tools fiber status section as accurate as we can.
...
-Dane

By that measure, they aren't meeting their goal. My estimated date has changed 8 times since April. In each case I've been told that I'm a month away from having service, but here I am 8 months later, being told that I'm a month away from having service, even after conversations with Sonic employees who told me the obstacles had been cleared and they are now just proceeding with installations in the order in which they are dispatched. I've gotten no communication from Sonic about the delays, but continue to receive solicitations asking me to refer my friends to a service I don't have, and telling me that I should sign up because service is now available in my neighborhood.

If there are external delays, communicate those to your customers. If there is a list of homes to be hooked up in a certain order and I happen to be far down on that list, don't continue to dishonestly say that I'm a month away from getting service.