Well, now. I’m beginning to believe that two megabit fiber-to-the-prem internet connection I’ve talked about over the last couple of years just might happen. Finally. Last week a couple of guys came out and set a post for some of the equipment needed to make the connection a reality.
Today a whole gaggle of guys came out to…are you ready?… run the actual fiber from the concentration point to El Casa Móvil De Pennington, or in close proximity thereto, at any rate. Which was more trouble than you might think, Gentle Reader, given that the crew had to dig the fiber trench by hand. Digging an 18-inch deep trench in the soil around here is akin to trying to dig an 18-inch deep trench in your average Wal-Mart parking lot. The run from pedestal to prem is about 40 feet or so and took three guys about four hours of hard work to git ‘r’ done. They finally brought in a jack hammer to finish off the digging part of the job and are now tidying up the installation.
It’s with baited breath that I’m waiting. I might actually have that two megabit ‘net connection sometime next month. If…as they say… “Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.” And assuming Our Friend Murphy is otherwise engaged.
You can bet your hind-most body parts I knocked on wood both before and after typing the above.
Well, that will be sweet!
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested in your download speed when you get it going. Right now Comcast provides me with a 20000KB download and a 2500KB upload. Let me know how that compares.
There's a speed checker in my sidebar.
Yay! I knocked on wood for you, too.
ReplyDeleteIs the guy in the hat supervising? Or....?
ReplyDeleteMushy: Cable modems are about the fastest connection there is, currently. I had one of the first back around '98 and was getting about 1.5 MB, even back then. 2MBps ain't bad, though. Beats the Hell out of 384 KBps, which is the theoretical speed of my current connection. Reality varies between less than 40 Kbps on bad days up to 400 KBps on days when something is obviously wrong and the Telco is over-delivering. (Ill-concealed smirk forming on my lips as I type...)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Becky!
Laurie: He must be supervising, as I didn't actually SEE him do anything like... um...work.
Yeha! Finally someone gets faster internet. Although mine is faster than dial up, it is still a bit slow. Is there hope for people who live in the country? Maybe so, if Portales comes through. I will keep my fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteWe used a ditch-witch this weekend to hook up electricity to the barn. It took a while to dig through the hard ground, but it was not hard work. Would that not work for Portales soil?
Forty feet of fiber? What did they hook up to at the terminal though, same old copper?
ReplyDeleteWe sure know what digging in dry NM soil is all about. Slim does, too, now. We told him ... but he pooh-poohed us as idiot green horns.
Very cool! I'm sure there is no hope for us country folk, though. When I got my new computer 3 years ago, we only had dialup. And the connection was so bad, many times it wouldn't hook up at all (of course when I took it in to Yucky, it worked fine on THEIR phone lines). I'm just thankful for my wireless modem thingie.
ReplyDeleteAny more pictures of the hottie doing all the work? Not too bad for P-ville. Of course, might be a different story from the front of him, but the rear wasn't bad. LOL!
Lou sez: We used a ditch-witch... Would that not work for Portales soil?
ReplyDeleteThe fiber contractors have trenchers in various shapes and sizes and use them for most of the digging. The haphazard layout of buried utilities in this part of Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park (even while they ARE marked)... gas, water, electricity, and cable TeeVee... precluded the use of trenchers for the final run(s), so the guys had to dig by hand.
Lin sez: ...same old copper?
Nope. Fiber, once again. The concentrator of which I spoke is entirely new and connects me to a city-wide fiber backbone, which in turn, connects to the outside world. The entire city (if I may be so bold to call P-Ville a "city") is being wired for fiber. The whole reason I've been alternately excited and frustrated is my area is in the last of six "implementation zones" for this city-wide project, which is in its third year now...one year late. The goal of the project is to make broadband available for anyone/everyone in P-Ville that wants it.
Jenny: No more pics, LOL! You could get higher-speed access through a satellite connection, Jenny...but that's still sort of pricey from what I hear. Lin? Lou?
Buck, that stuff get inspected by the locals?....I remember all my years at the Health Department(s), one of our jobs was to inspect and license, Trailer Parks, Campgrounds, and RV Parks.....never could figure out why that was a Ohio Department of Health license project....but went and got myself educated in the electrial stuff, to go along with sewage and water, just to make it look like I knew what the Hell I was looking at.
ReplyDeletePat sez: that stuff get inspected by the locals?
ReplyDeleteI dunno, Pat. Government is small in this part of the world (one reason I LIKE it here!), but one would think there's be some sort of inspection, some time. But the only city vehicles I've ever seen in BLHTP belong to the dog catcher (aside from various flavors of cops and the fire department, once).
Hopefully Murphy is busy elsewhere (probably here!)
ReplyDeleteThe satellite connection is pricey. You pay for your dish and then a large monthly fee.
ReplyDelete"Does that stuff get inspected by the locals?"
In northern NM, which is a third world country, it would only get inspected if someone could make money off of the inspection. If Joe Blow's nephew was doing the installaion, it might not get inspected. If you were doing something on your own, you might have to grease a palm or two...
Well aren't you getting all fancy, I should say hopefully..
ReplyDelete