Last Saturday, I was enjoying the usual weekend-morning breakfast fun with my family when I looked out the window and saw a CenturyLink crew installing fiber on along our street. I jumped up and out the door to talk to the crew, in my bathrobe.
Well, at least I started the conversation in my bathrobe. When I realized the larger context of their work (i.e. CenturyLink's fiber expansion project in Seattle), I got dressed and headed back out with more questions and my camera.
Here's the scoop:
Lineman Broc and Bob, members of CWA Local 7800 were on the 4000 block of SW Frontenac Street in the Gatewood area of West Seattle installing a CenturyLink fiber slice box on an aerial line in the neighborhood.
Residential and business phone, Internet and TV services will be delivered across this new fiber facility (i.e. fiber cable carrying two shielded fiber bundles with 12 strands per bundle).
The speeds will be much faster than current DSL services, according to CenturyLink.
Bob with CenturyLink installing fiber along SW Frontenac Street in West Seattle
This is great for West Seattle and good for Broc and Bob, too.
According to Broc, there were happy to be working on a Saturday. “We haven’t had overtime in a while,” he told me. “This project is giving us the first overtime in a long time.”
Broc, a lineman with CenturyLink and member of CWA Local 7800
They went on to explain that CenturyLink employees are very excited to finally respond to rival, Comcast Cable, which has lured customers away from the Local Exchange Carrier in recent months.
The benefit for neighborhood residents, in addition to faster speeds, is that we can expect this facility to deliver high bandwidth capacity for many years to come. As Bob explained, "fiber facilities are much more reliable than legacy copper facilities due to the fibers being resistant to corrosion." Anyone familiar with static on the line with it rains can appreciate this.
Work on the facility continues this week. I check in on it when I can, although not in my bathrobe.
If you have any questions or if you are a business that would like to order CenturyLink fiber service, contact me here or direct at (206) 420-0140.
And because I really do love to geek out on this stuff, here are a few more of my install photos.
About Brian Wade
Brian Wade is founder and president of telecom brokerage, Caisson Technologies. He has worked in telecom for 15 years, including as a customer care representative, service provisioner and sales representative. He launched Caisson in 2005. He writes about telecom products, promotions and industry trends on his blog.
About Caisson
Caisson Technologies is a Seattle-based telecommunications consulting company. We sell the business phone and Internet services of over 40 telecom providers, including CenturyLink, Comcast Business and Integra Telecom. We're the better way to buy because we work with the service providers so you don't have to. We're here long-term, so you always know who to call. And we save you money, typically 20 - 30%. Plus, our consulting is free. Here's how.
Visit our website to learn more.