[shambolic]

> we tried relentlessly to contact our local utilities to gain access to their underground conduit and was never able to get someone on the phone or even much of a response.

I find that really hard to believe. Go to their offices and ask for the manager.

> I eventually got to the point where I was like, "Fk it, I'll do it on my own." Now we're looking at microtrenching, which is probably an even larger endeavor, but at least we'll own the conduit.

Building your own facilities is no joke. Unless you are made out of money, you'll be far better off putting more effort into renting existing ducts.

[chrishacken]

Renting duct is $3/ft/year. That's $15,840 per mile per year. That's not including ~$30,000 to contract out the work (I was quoted $7/ft) and $5,000 that the utility charges to have someone on-site to oversee the operation. I've determined we can microtrench ourselves for between $30,000 and $40,000.

I've been on contact with another ISP, https://tsi.io who has successfully done micro-trenching with very minimal capital. We're doing all of the work ourselves to reduce overhead.

[amalag]

That website is very cool. It will be really interesting if this catches on. There are a ton of rural customers underserved by DSL or even wireless ISPs.

[icedchai]

Do you actually expect to turn a profit doing this? Seems like it will never pay for itself.

[shambolic]

How do you know the duct rent if you haven't been able to contact the utility?

$7/ft is more than you should be paying. Get some more competing quotes.

I'd be very surprised if you can hit $30-40k per mile all in when microtrenching.

[chrishacken]

It's in their agreement, which is available publicly online. I managed to get 2 or 3 email responses, but they go dark for 2 months at a time.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wcd5z1itzu141ky/Screenshot%202017-...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sbkhujxkpepadjw/Screenshot%202017-...

[toomuchtodo]

You might check what the agreement between the utility and the public utility commission is to see if you can have the PUC lean on the utility to provide the data you need.

http://www.puc.pa.gov/

[chrishacken]

I've had several meetings with a District Rep, who contacted his government rep at the utility for the area, who leaned into them. They said they would contact me; 3 times, and never did.

[shambolic]

What happens when you go to their offices?