Fiber to Welch
 

We still have Consolidated DSL on Welch, lost internet yesterday afternoon. J said that there had been a lineman on a ladder up the pole, I put in a trouble report as he must have messed up our connection.

Took a walk today and saw what looked like phone wire hanging down with a coil of extra wire on the ground. The next pole down had another coil hanging down, so I took a look. Optical Cable.

Behind the WHYC we saw a large spool, they are running optical cable just above the existing phone cable. Maybe a spring ’25 offering?

Alan

Comcast? Just Welch?
 

We used to have telephone and DSL on Welch, but it wasn't Comcast. Can't recall name. Consolidated? Anyway, I called in the spring to turn on service and they did the DSL, but not the phone. Didn't realize it until I called in the fall to suspend services. All we missed was junk phone calls. DSL was so slow we barely used it except for email. Ever since we went to HUB66 family members spend more time at camp working from home. Guests, too. It surprises me that services would be added for small number of customers. Is this (optical) part of the federal program to expand broadband in rural areas?

My bad, it is Consolidated, former Fair Point. Next year will see what the deal is vs HUB66.

Alan

The coils on electrical poles, at least in T'boro, so I have to assume everywhere else, are NHEC Broadband...coming soon!

Hub66
 

It appears to be Hub66 that is running the fiber optic on Welch!

Dan

Yes, I also heard from H. K. that the Gilford Selectmen had given the OK to Hub66. What puzzled me was that some of the Consolidated phone junction boxes had been opened by the installers (thus killing our DSL) and that they were using ladders staged by Consolidated (Fair Point label on the ladders).

Alan

Huh?
 

I'm confused. We get a great signal from the Belknap/Gunstock tower and our neighbors, deeper in the woods, get a great signal off a repeater on one of our trees. (There is some power that comes from our place and would shut them down if we, and not they, lost power. That's the way island camps are built, isn't it?). Why would a tower based system add cable? It will be interesting to follow this. Curious about how HUB66 will feed other islands which now have antenna feeds only.

Fiber everywhere
 

Hub66 also runs fiber, but most of its business is fixed wireless. In M'boro, a few years ago, Hub66 dug a trench into a no-pole neighborhood that couldn't get cable. They lease the trunk fiber, then run their own fiber into the neighborhood and individual homes.

Fidium/Consolidated installs their fiber junction boxes in-line on the wire. The boxes mounted on the poles are owned by NH Broadband/NHEC.

Most of the broadband install activity over the past year was partly funded by the 2021 Federal infrastructure bill, managed through state agencies. In the case of Fidium and NH Broadband, both were funded to light up specific unserved addresses, then invested their own funds to expand to the rest of the towns where they got the grants. It has been a bit chaotic. There are new grants available to fund the remaining unserved, but we won't be able to identify those addresses till the dust settles, probably 2027. Hopefully, there will still be "finish it up" grants available then.

NH Broadband is now placing its unique pole boxes along Moultonboro Neck Rd. where I live (I moved off Long Island, NH not NY, 5 years ago).

It's great to be able to have options and competition for broadband and streaming. We had Spectrum, now Fidium, and signed up for NH Broadband. Still comparing Spectrum and Fidium for speedtests on my older equipment in the house ... cameras, fixed and wireless, laptops etc. Were waiting for NH Broadband to notify us for installation.

Have a phone land line as well, Consolidated Communications, but do not use. They now use fiber trunk lines, as well, instead of the 2 wire twisted pairs, of the past.

The wiring for all goes, and wil go, along the same path, inside and outside of the house, iincluding the last 75ft. underground from a pole to under the driveway to the side of the house. Inside the house the lines run, and will run, side by side to where the modem/router or ONT are located from the basement to the living room.

We still use Spectrum TV125 for "TV" without any of the Spectrum boxes, nor internet; stream it on Roku. Only billed for the "TV" stream. Spectrum is peddling XUMO boxes for streaming.

Fidium and NH Broadband don't have their own"TV"; e.g., Fidium suggests YouTube TV, FuboTV, Philo, DirectTV (not satellite but streaming DirectTV). We can stream any of these or other available streams, as well.

Anyone try Starlink?


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

My son has Starlink for his camper. He likes it. He came here on a visit, recently, from Iowa and used it here.

https://www.satelliteinternet.com/re...k-roam-review/