February 1, 2023 — At Clearwave Fiber, we prioritize building, installing and maintaining reliable and fast Fiber Internet in all the communities we serve.
Like any cutting-edge technology, investing in our community to construct Fiber networks can be complicated. Getting Fiber Internet installed properly for businesses and homes is of the utmost importance to us. But “getting it right” can sometimes take a bit longer than many governments, businesses and residents would like!
We realize that you‘re eager to finally have high-speed Fiber Internet in your home or business. We’d like to explain the industry-wide process of installing Fiber broadband infrastructure to provide a better understanding of the planning and work that goes into providing this service. Clearwave Fiber wants to explain why we ask you to bear with us as we work to install the best service possible!
What is “Fiber Make-Ready Construction”?
Installing Fiber Internet is subject to strict industry and governmental standards. From planning to permitting, to shovel-ready groundbreaking, to wiring and launching, it’s a step-by-step process to make sure we follow regulations and limit any potential long-term problems.
Specifically, when we build the Fiber broadband network in your community, we build it to “Fiber Make-Ready” conditions.
“Make-Ready,” a term used broadly in the construction industry, describes the process and standard of building infrastructure to access and connect to existing utilities – in our case, a utility pole than can be equipped with Fiber cabling.
As you can imagine, given the large number of customers who will use our Fiber services (who doesn’t use the Internet these days?), the Fiber broadband network must be properly installed. Fiber Make-Ready is the universal standard Clearwave Fiber follows to ensure the highest quality and least disruptive build possible for your Internet connection.
Steps in the Fiber Make-Ready Process
Below is the multistep process to getting to Fiber Make-Ready conditions.
- Step 1: Clearwave Fiber reaches out to the “pole owner” of the Fiber — usually a utility company — asking permission to connect to the Fiber poles. This lengthy process involves negotiation, construction, environmental, financial, labor and telecommunications regulations.
- Step 2: The pole owner runs an engineering and technical assessment on the capacity for that pole to accept more equipment for another connection for Clearwave Fiber without additional upgrades. Many factors are considered including safety and basic spacing on the pole.
- Step 3: Based on the pole owner’s assessment of capacity, space, safety, and other factors, the pole owner sends a “Fiber Make-Ready” cost estimate to Clearwave Fiber. This cost estimate must be pre-paid before any construction work can begin.
- Step 4: Once the pole owner concludes that there are no significant issues and has received pre-payment, other companies with existing facilities on the poles send utility workers to modify their existing wiring and equipment to accommodate Clearwave Fiber’s new equipment and cabling.
- Step 5: After space on the pole has been made available, the pole owner issues a work permit (which must comply with federal, state, and local laws and regulations) to Clearwave Fiber.
- Step 6: Finally, after completing all the above steps, Clearwave Fiber can install its Fiber equipment on the poles.
Fiber Broadband is Worth the Wait!
We know this seems like a lengthy process. But the steps above help ensure that the Internet infrastructure in your community is not overburdened (or unsafe) to bring into your neighborhood or business.
Our Fiber Internet will be more stable, more sustainable, and higher quality because we have taken the time to install it to Fiber Make-Ready conditions.
In sum, installing Fiber Internet takes some time, and is subject to strict standards of Make-Ready construction. But trust us: It is well worth the wait!
Your Internet will be more reliable, more efficient, and much faster because we took the time to install it to the best industry standards.
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