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Welcome to the Fiberhood

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wont-you-be-my-neighbor dept.

cpfeifer writes "According to this article in the Washington Post, high-end subdivisions are running fiber-optic cable to each house and rolling the cost of broadband, digital cable and local phone service into the home owners association cost. Apparantly home pre-wired for broadband have a better resale value and higher demand in the market."

6 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. It's one thing.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    To roll the cost of infrastructure in, but it's another to tie the service in. What if it quite simply sucks? You lose the option of finding another provider.

    Well, I guess this is part of the reason I'd never live in one of these "communities."

  2. Lack of competition? by jewf1sh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The only problem this poses is a lack of competition by local companies. If the costs are all rolled into the association cost, then this wouldn't allow the homeowners to actually choose their cable and phone providers. Although many places already have instances where there is not much choice, there are many others where several companies are competing, and allowing the subdivision to decide this for its homeowners could be a bad thing.

  3. No it isn't Re:Fiber to the door is plain silly by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Yeah, sure, 640K is more than enough for anyone.

    Don't forget these houses could be there for the next 50 years or more. Are you saying they will not want more than 1 Gigabit per second, over the entire life of the building?

    -Ian

    --

    -WolfWithoutAClause

    "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
  4. Re:Fiber to the door is plain silly by Wells2k · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sure, run a lot of copper through the house. But what you can also do is run fibre to certain parts of the house, like the attic or something. You don't have to do wall mounts or anything, just have the fibre in the walls. Then, when it does come down to actually needing fibre, you have it run, you just need to hook it up in the right places.

  5. Seen it, but... by E-Rock-23 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For a time, I worked in the construction racket, doing fiberglass insulation. Yeah, seeing the homes wired for broadband is neat, but then again, the quality of the homes I insulaetd lacked HEAVILY. S&A Homes is the biggest culprit. They build homes with warped 2x4s, particle board, and other cheap materials. And then they sell these shacks for somewhere in excess of $200G or more. I swear that the fibre is the most expensive part.

    If you want to go this route and are building a new home, make sure you DEMAND that your home is at least framed in 2x6s (2x10 is optimal, IMHO) and covered in strong plywood. If I were the homeowner, I wouldn't be happy to know that someone can break into my home with a super soaker and a pocket knife...

    Be careful which builder you choose, and make sure you supervise the construction at every step. Otherwise, the resale value won't be shit, fiber or not. Just another case of buyer beware...

    Now, let's see how many ACs flame me because they know better. Seems to be a curse of mine lately...

    --
    Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
  6. Lesson from telco/cable cos by rjmcmahon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A customer-owned, fiber, "last-mile" and a carrier-neutral colo is as important as the technology itself. Otherwise the fiber loop will be prey to monopolistic behavior and society will lose.

    Fortunately, the majority of our roads are not toll roads and they are not controlled by private monopolists. Our information links need to meet these same standards. Municipal or customer ownership of the last mile and a carrier-neutral colo are musts for progress.

    PS. Connect our schools and libraries first.