Oct
20
Getting That Last Mile Coax Run Can Be Costly – Time Warner Wants $20,000 for 2,583 Feet of Cable
The difference between the broadband haves and the broadband have-nots often comes down to a couple hundred feet. When dealing with a cable provider, users just out of range of cable can sometimes pony up the costs to have the coax or fiber run a little further down the road. Our forums are filled with repeated stories of users that are a few hundred feet out of range being asked to pay install fees we've seen go as high as $25,000 if you want service.
User uid://1767645 directs our attention to an Albany Times Union story that profiles an Air Force retiree and former Time Warner Cable technician struggling to get Time Warner Cable to run cable so he can get real broadband service. According to the rural upstate New York resident, Time Warner Cable's asking him to shell out $20,000 for what the company estimates will be about 2,583 feet of line:
A letter Walkowicz received in January from a Time Warner Cable construction administrator estimated the cost of extending service less than nine-tenths of a mile to his home on Route 67 in the town of Ballston at more than $20,000. The letter also suggests that Walkowicz recruit four of his cable-less neighbors to sign up, too, so they could split the cost and each pay a "$2,647.65 one-time aid-in-construction charge" calculated through an eye-glazing formula printed on the letter.
Except he didn't have any cable-less neighbors and currently doesn't have a clear line of sight for satellite. He is however lucky in that Verizon FiOS is slated to deploy FiOS to his market in the next few years as part of an established franchise agreement. With local franchise agreements getting weaker and weaker in terms of requiring that ISPs offer uniform coverage, the only option for many of these customers is to move.read comment(s)
Original story here.