[toast0]

> Have you ever lived in a neighborhood with ongoing FTTH, or even FTTC, installation? I assure you that there is certainly a problem with having that done multiple times. That's just the making-lives-shitty part

I was around when AT&T ran the fiber in my old neighborhood. One day, they put pulleys on the poles. Another day, they pulled the fiber over the pulleys. The worst part was waiting for service to become available even though the neighborhood equipment was installed.

The couple of days with lots of trucks in the neighborhood was somewhat disruptive, but not that much more than trash day with a couple garbage trucks driving slowly through the neighborhood.

That still doesn't make it likely to get competition this way. AT&T seemingly only installed fiber because Google had announced they were going to, but Google never actually did, because it was too expensive (capital cost + regulatory requirements + pole access)

[eropple]

That sounds comparatively nice. I was living in a place where everything was trunked underground. R I P.

[toast0]

Underground utilities make maintenance and construction terribly expensive in dollars, time, and hassle.

If you're in an area where conditions are frequently bringing down poles or wires, it can make sense, but a lot of places want underground utilities for cosmetic reasons --- it's a lot of expense to give you a less flexible system.

[toomuchtodo]

That's why you use Dig Once. If you dig, you plan and coordinate, and you make efficient use of the time sink you're putting into laying utilities in the ground.

https://www.csg.org/pubs/capitolideas/enews/cs41_1.aspx

https://staticshare.america.gov/uploads/2016/04/6.-GCI-Dig-O...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/dig-once-rule-re...

[ardy42]

You could probably have something close to best-of-both worlds if they run underground conduit in the utility right of way.