Rural blackhole syndrome

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quickymart

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#3073911 8-May-2023 19:20

Hunter: Am living in the same area.
Have been living with this problem since 2000
Have fiber running right across my front gate.
The fiber actually is less than 1/2 meter away from my phone line.
And they want $6000 to connect me, like really ?

Yes, really - and that's probably not even you covering 100% of the cost. It's not as simple as just tapping into the fibre line running past your gate and making a connection - there's a whole heap of other work involved. $6k is actually on the lower end for pricing.

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#3074077 8-May-2023 22:32

quickymart:

Hunter: Am living in the same area.
Have been living with this problem since 2000
Have fiber running right across my front gate.
The fiber actually is less than 1/2 meter away from my phone line.
And they want $6000 to connect me, like really ?

Yes, really - and that's probably not even you covering 100% of the cost. It's not as simple as just tapping into the fibre line running past your gate and making a connection - there's a whole heap of other work involved. $6k is actually on the lower end for pricing.

Yep. I liken it to building a house in the middle of nowhere but right next to a 200kV power pylon. Sure there's all those electrons within spitting distance but you can't just tap into it - at least not without building a transformer/sub-station to step down the voltage for domestic use which for a single house is prohibitively costly.

However if there is a school down the road, then there will already be a transformer/sub-station somewhere nearby, and you can probably leverage that to your advantage to get power connected. Sure it will still cost a fair whack, but it might be thousands instead of millions.

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

Aucklandjafa

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#3074078 8-May-2023 22:37

Hunter: Am living in the same area.
Have been living with this problem since 2000
Have fiber running right across my front gate.
The fiber actually is less than 1/2 meter away from my phone line.
And they want $6000 to connect me, like really ?

$6k is cheap! Over 20 years it’s $25/month. Will definitely add value to your house, too!

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3074083 8-May-2023 23:02

Just found this out of Aus: https://media.powercor.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/08165538/INDICATIVE-COST-GUIDE_07062021.pdf

Looks like the fibre is probably cheaper than a new power connection would be. Note that the 'high voltage' mentioned there is only going to be 11/22kV or thereabouts.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
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#3074084 8-May-2023 23:08

Wheelbarrow01:

Yep. I liken it to building a house in the middle of nowhere but right next to a 200kV power pylon. Sure there's all those electrons within spitting distance but you can't just tap into it - at least not without building a transformer/sub-station to step down the voltage for domestic use which for a single house is prohibitively costly.

Just run your own induction line below the 200kv one. Taps the power and acts as a transformer all in one.

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nztim

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TEAMnetwork

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#3074096 9-May-2023 08:19

Wheelbarrow01:

Yep. I liken it to building a house in the middle of nowhere but right next to a 200kV power pylon. Sure there's all those electrons within spitting distance but you can't just tap into it - at least not without building a transformer/sub-station to step down the voltage for domestic use which for a single house is prohibitively costly.

However if there is a school down the road, then there will already be a transformer/sub-station somewhere nearby, and you can probably leverage that to your advantage to get power connected. Sure it will still cost a fair whack, but it might be thousands instead of millions.

That fibre that passes is most likely backhaul as well, so you will have to splice into a strand and run GPON back form the exchange.

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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Bung

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#3074108 9-May-2023 09:41

Around here if you are subdividing a section it's $6000 just to have the additional sewage connection to the existing street pipe.

wired

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#3074123 9-May-2023 10:53

Have you applied for grant money under the Rural Users Scheme (RUS)? Sounds like you could fit the criteria. This is government money for those who can’t get broadband. You apply through the Crown Infrastructure website https://www.crowninfrastructure.govt.nz/rural/rus/

raytaylor

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#3074834 10-May-2023 22:29

xpd:

Wheronet not available either according to their coverage.

I'd still give them a call. I highly recommend John and Co at Wheronet.

They really know what they are doing and sometimes its better to actually get the engineers to think about a solution rather than just looking at coverage maps. May not lead to anything but still worth a try even if there is a chance their coverage map isnt up to date or they come up with an idea.

Ray Taylor

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raytaylor

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#3074835 10-May-2023 22:30

trig42:

$6000, while a lot of money, sounds quite reasonable for this. I've heard of a lot of quotes much more than that to get connected.

I'd be saving up and paying that if I were in the same situation.

It might not be the right kind of fiber to tap into easily.

Ive paid $8,000 for a distance of 8.5 metres.

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herberto286

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#3083267 1-Jun-2023 14:10

CYaBro:

Hunter: Am living in the same area.
Have been living with this problem since 2000
Have fiber running right across my front gate.
The fiber actually is less than 1/2 meter away from my phone line.
And they want $6000 to connect me, like really ?

I paid $14k to get connected to the rural fibre cable that runs right past our gate.
All that was required was for Chorus to dig until they found the fibre, splice into one of the fibres and run a fibre cable from there up our telephone pole and into the house.
Best investment ever.

And I'm sure has increased the value of the property as the only other place that has fibre anywhere near us is the school about 2km down the road.

Then it's about a 15km drive into town before you get to a UFB area.

14k sounds pretty good to me, depending on how rural we are talking. Just out of curiosity, how rural was this fibre cable?

I'm located between two towns (about 7km from each) and they buried at least one (fxnetworks?) backbone fibre cable that follows the road between the towns a few years back. There might be two actually. I'm just wondering if connecting to a middle of nowhere backbone fibre cables is more complicated than connecting to the (different types of?) cables they have buried (at a shallower depth?) closer to the edges of rural towns.

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CYaBro

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#3083289 1-Jun-2023 14:43

herberto286:

14k sounds pretty good to me, depending on how rural we are talking. Just out of curiosity, how rural was this fibre cable?

I'm located between two towns (about 7km from each) and they buried at least one (fxnetworks?) backbone fibre cable that follows the road between the towns a few years back. There might be two actually. I'm just wondering if connecting to a middle of nowhere backbone fibre cables is more complicated than connecting to the (different types of?) cables they have buried (at a shallower depth?) closer to the edges of rural towns.

The fibre that we got connected to had been in the ground since about 1996 I was told.
They had trouble locating it as there were no plans for it. 😂
The fibre runs from the Oamaru exchange to a tiny town about 10 mins west, Enfield, and from there all the way out past us at Five Forks.
We're about 15 mins further west of Enfield, and the fibre just ran to a roadside cabinet about 2km past our gate.
That cabinet is not even DSL capable!
At the time us and the school about 2km back towards town were the only ones connected to it.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

herberto286

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#3083521 1-Jun-2023 22:54

CYaBro:

herberto286:

14k sounds pretty good to me, depending on how rural we are talking. Just out of curiosity, how rural was this fibre cable?

I'm located between two towns (about 7km from each) and they buried at least one (fxnetworks?) backbone fibre cable that follows the road between the towns a few years back. There might be two actually. I'm just wondering if connecting to a middle of nowhere backbone fibre cables is more complicated than connecting to the (different types of?) cables they have buried (at a shallower depth?) closer to the edges of rural towns.

The fibre that we got connected to had been in the ground since about 1996 I was told.
They had trouble locating it as there were no plans for it. 😂
The fibre runs from the Oamaru exchange to a tiny town about 10 mins west, Enfield, and from there all the way out past us at Five Forks.
We're about 15 mins further west of Enfield, and the fibre just ran to a roadside cabinet about 2km past our gate.
That cabinet is not even DSL capable!
At the time us and the school about 2km back towards town were the only ones connected to it.

Interesting. Thanks!

Baboon

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#3083550 2-Jun-2023 06:49

Hunter: Am living in the same area.
Have been living with this problem since 2000
Have fiber running right across my front gate.
The fiber actually is less than 1/2 meter away from my phone line.
And they want $6000 to connect me, like really ?

I know it seems like a lot, but a better way to look at it is as an investment that upgrades the property. Or just as a necessary cost as with getting other utilities connected. It sucks to face these costs living rurally, but that's always been the trade-off for living outside of town :-\

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