Comcast wanted $210,000 for Internet—so this man helped expand a co-op fiber ISP - Ars Technica

Enlarge / Fiber conduits being installed for Los Altos Hills Community Fiber.

Los Altos Hills Community Fiber

Sasha Zbrozek lives successful Los Altos Hills, California, which helium describes arsenic "a affluent Silicon Valley town," successful a location astir 5 miles from Google's headquarters. But aft moving successful December 2019, Zbrozek says helium learned that Comcast ne'er wired his house—despite antecedently telling him it could connection Internet work astatine the address.

Today, Zbrozek is connected the committee of a co-op ISP called Los Altos Hills Community Fiber (LAHCF), which provides multi-gigabit fibre Internet to dozens of homes and has a program to service hundreds more. Town residents were capable to signifier the ISP with the assistance of Next Level Networks, which isn't a accepted user broadband supplier but a institution that builds and manages networks for section groups.

Zbrozek's acquisition with Comcast led to him getting progressive with LAHCF and organizing an enlargement that brought 10Gbps symmetrical fibre to his location and others connected adjacent roads. Zbrozek described his acquisition to Ars successful a telephone interrogation and successful emails.

"Before I bought my home, I checked with Comcast—by phone—to spot if work was disposable astatine the address. They said yes. After moving in, I called to bargain service. The technician came retired and near a enactment saying that work was not available," helium told us.

Want Comcast? That’ll beryllium $210,000

There are 5 parcels that neighbour Zbrozek's property, and 3 of them person Comcast service, helium said. Comcast's online availability checker indicated—correctly, arsenic it turned out—that the location helium was buying didn't person service. But it was wide that Comcast was serving the neighborhood, truthful helium called the cablegram institution to find retired if helium could get Internet access.

Zbrozek recalled a Comcast cause telling him the erstwhile residents of the location helium was buying ne'er signed up for work and that "we mightiness request to adhd a driblet from the rod to your house, but, you know, different it's nary large deal."

Instead of it being nary large deal, Zbrozek said it took implicit a twelvemonth to get Comcast to archer him however overmuch it would complaint for a enactment hold to his house. Zbrozek yet had to scope retired to the Los Altos Hills municipality authorities to get a terms punctuation from Comcast.

The reply was $210,000. Comcast wanted Zbrozek to wage $300 per ft to trench cablegram crossed astir 700 feet, according to a February 2021 email from Los Altos Hills' nationalist works manager that Zbrozek shared with Ars.

While Zbrozek had calculated a region of 167 feet from his spot to the nearest rod with Comcast wires, helium said Comcast told him the location was excessively acold from the rod to legally supply above-ground service. Los Altos Hills requires underground installation successful astir cases.

Sasha Zbrozek successful a representation taken astir the clip helium began canvassing neighbors astir installing fiber.

Zbrozek besides projected connecting to Comcast by moving a enactment to a neighbor's spot that had Comcast service. "The closest constituent betwixt my spot and a (now former) neighbour with Comcast who would've fto maine bash immoderate backstage trenching is astir 40 feet," Zbrozek told Ars. However, Comcast doesn't let that benignant of property-to-property connection.

"The tone of the franchise statement [between Comcast and Los Altos Hills] is that I'm expected to beryllium capable to get work due to the fact that I'm connected a nationalist road, but successful signifier that conscionable wasn't the case," helium said. Before getting fibre service, Zbrozek and his wife, Stella, made bash by "tethering to a compartment phone. I conscionable got an unlimited program and plugged my compartment telephone into a location router and called it a day," helium said.