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Getting a quote to build out service to an address through any residential sales channel at an ISP is an exercise in futility. They generally won't quote it to
by cweagans 5y ago
Getting a quote to build out service to an address through any residential sales channel at an ISP is an exercise in futility. They generally won't quote it to residential customers because the quote usually ends up being for some astronomically high amount (dozens/hundreds of thousands) that few residential customers could reasonably afford.
If you really want to have something built out for you, I recommend the following approach:
1. Find neighbors that are both frustrated with their internet options and have some money to spend
2. Call the business sales line for whatever ISP you want to go with.
3. Request a quote for yourself and mention that there are some neighboring businesses that would be willing to go in on the build cost.
Usually, you can at least get a quote that way and you can decide from there whether or not it's worth it. Once they've built out service to your location, other residential customers can re-use that same infrastructure, so they don't all actually need to have businesses of their own.
Sparklight is a provider in my area as well and they will build out business service to a residential location if there is business being conducted there (it's a pretty low bar to meet, and when in doubt, you could simply set up an LLC for yourself. I think it's ~$300 in Texas, which would essentially be a rounding error on the cost of the service buildout).
Another option that you could look into is setting up your own ISP. I found that in my previous home, I would have been able to set up a tiny neighborhood ISP for ~$30k (for 15 homes). It's a large chunk of money, but divided up across multiple homes + ongoing service fees, it would have been pretty manageable. This was the cost for fiber-to-the-home and it was so low only because I didn't have to cross any public right-of-way, I was able to find a path for the fiber that didn't cross any other utilities or anything, there was fiber nearby (Zayo Communications publishes a map online where you can find this info), and I was willing to do much of the installation work myself. I ended up selling the house and moving instead, but it would have been a pretty fun project. You could also consider starting a WISP. https://startyourownisp.com/ https://startyourownisp.com/ has come across HN several times and is a really interesting resource.
- inetknght 5y ago> the quote usually ends up being for some astronomically high amount (dozens/hundreds of thousands) that few residential customers could reasonably afford. Yes. I was prepared to spend tens of thousands of dollars. > Another option that you could look into is setting up your own ISP. I'm interested in doing so but not as part of a purchase of a home. Maybe a few years down the line I might.