Re: Spectrum (legacy TWC) Infrastructure - Contact Off List

[Eric Kuhnke <eric.kuhnke () gmail com>]

There is "microtrenching" and then there is microtrenching. Very different
things are sometimes described by the same name. Some of what Google tried
to go was exceedingly shallow, like 4 inches down. Cheap microtrenching
done too quick and too shallow has given the concept a bad name.

There is microtrenched fiber in Vancouver BC that is close to 20 years old
now throughout the downtown core that is nearly problem-free. The
difference is that it is 12+ inches down and was installed using large,
noisy, water cooled diamond-grit concrete saws cutting deep slits into the
joints between streets and curbs, or concrete curbs and sidewalks,  duct
inserted, then backfilled with grouting. It's deep enough where it crosses
roads that re-paving the road by first grinding off the top several inches
of surface is extremely unlikely to disturb the duct.

On Thu, Feb 2, 2023 at 5:17 PM Clayton Zekelman <clayton () mnsi net> wrote:

> It may.  We don't use it.  Too many freeze/thaw cycles each winter around
> here.  It would get destroyed in a few years.
>
> Google tried to cheap out in Louisville... didn't quite work out
> https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/7/18215743/google-fiber-leaving-louisville-service-ending
> - although that was even more sketchy than traditional microtrenching.
>
> As for rural, the business case becomes even more difficult when you're
> measuring kilometers per home passed instead of homes passed per
> kilometer...
>
> At 07:58 PM 02/02/2023, Kevin Shymkiw wrote:
>
> Clayton,
>
> Did you leverage things like micro trenching for this project?  I may be
> mislead, but I thought micro trenching these days has helped drive the cost
> of doing this down fairly significantly.
>
> Kevin
>
> On Thu, Feb 2, 2023 at 17:56 Clayton Zekelman <clayton () mnsi net> wrote:
>
> The cost is not low.  Trust me on that.  I've been involved in a pretty
> massive suburban fibre deployment for the past decade... I expect we'll
> make money sometime in the 2030's... in time for me to retire.
>
> At 12:13 PM 02/02/2023, Forrest Christian (List Account) wrote:
>
> The cost to build physical layer in much of the suburban and somewhat
> rural US is low enough anymore that lots of smaller, independent, ISPs are
> overbuilding the incumbent with fiber and taking a big chunk of their
> customer base because they are local and care.  And making money while
> doing it.Â
>
>
> --
>
> Clayton Zekelman
> Managed Network Systems Inc. (MNSi)
> 3363 Tecumseh Rd. E
> Windsor, Ontario
> N8W 1H4
>
> tel. 519-985-8410
> fax. 519-985-8409