Aerial Fiber is now being installed in the McComb neighborhood! My neighborhood! If your electricity is on poles you should start looking for a boom truck and a truck pulling a large spool of fiber.
Lafayette’s fiber is being installed both aerially (on poles) and underground—depending on how your electricity is delivered. This is the first aerial fiber to go up. Unlike the underground installation, aerial fiber moves along pretty quick and leaves little sign of its installation. So if the truck comes through while you are away or at work you may not immediately realize it.
If, like me, you are eager to confirm the presence of fiber along your street, there are some things to look for.
The first sign will be a door-hanger on your front door. In my case a nice guy from Electric.com came by last week and generously agreed to chat for awhile. The fiber in our neighborhood will be the first aerial fiber in the city. They’ve apparently had some problems getting the materials together to start hanging the fiber but are now starting to ramp up with one crew at first to get the technique down and work out kinks. Next week another crew will come online.
A boom truck (This one was at the corner of 12th and Magnolia.)
A huge spool of Fiber
The LUS Fiber logo will be on the trucks, along with “Electric.com” (the subcontractors) or “Atlantic Engineering” (the engineers).
But if you miss them—or want to go cruising around looking for the nearest fiber—the thing to look for is is the unique fiber attaching devices on the poles. While the fiber itself is just another black wire the attachments look like nothing else. There are two styles: running pieces and pieces that turn a curve, usually at a corner. Both are designed as they are, I presume, to make sure that the fiber isn’t allowed to bend sharply enough to damage the glass fibers inside.
Here’s what’ll happen when the crews show up: They’ll run down the street putting the hardware in place, come back and run the fiber through the connectors and tighten up the line, and, finally, make another run and push the rubber cushions into the connectors.
Then its time for you to wait, impatiently, until they come by your house to drop a line to the side of your home and install the electronics box on the wall.
It’s coming…
