Utility pole identification

[TuSpockShakur]

Does anyone know what the public utility pole is with the orange top in this picture? I have seen them near some properties I am interested in buying and want to know if they are for high speed broadband.

 

[Jamsan]

I've seen similar ones in my area for fiber that's buried in the ground. If you look at the post closer, it should have a call before you dig contact number and will likely say the name of the company that owns the fiber as well. That should give a good indication of who it belongs to and potentially identify if they offer the service you're looking for in your area.

FYI - the one in my area, is for a corporate ISP that ran dedicated fiber to the corporate park.

 

[HeXen]

I work in utility construction. The pic is pretty bad but power is at the top, looks like it belongs to them and the others lease it. There are 3 down guides from what I can tell...that usually 1 for each utility. I can't see the lines very well but looks like Cable TV and phone drop (copper line). Usually fiber will have an orange sticker on it indicating who it belongs to and you'll see slack loops inside of a tennis racket looking thing that crushes when pulled to protect the fiber.

However, there do you see that orange post next to the pole in the ground. That is a marker post for underground fiber...it likely says buried fiber on it But that doesn't mean that any home nearby actually makes use of it..directly that is. Often it runs through. It's usually not there just for consumers, usually it's for Cell towers or town to town, phone company use or even secret govt lines...so just because it's there doesn't mean broadband internet is available to you. Fiber to the homes are often underground so the largest tell tale sign is seeing lots of underground concrete looking tubs (flush with ground) both larger and smaller running every other property or so. If there is cable coax then it's even likelier you'll have access to broudband through that provider.

There is probably at the very least DSL in that area..you can look for poles or posts that have a round box attached, it's a voltage step up transformer basically called load coils used for DSL. There may be a cabinet nearby. Basically there's no guaranteed way to tell if the properties in an area actually have access to broadband but I would surmise it's a high liklihood there is at least DSL available.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Could be underground fibre but it's probably transport going between COs. If there's no actual FTTH service in the area they wont have the equipment to provide it even if the fibre is right there. It's more involved than just splicing into it. Though if there is dark fibre it could potentially open doors depending on what the ISP provides.

Though usually it's not a question of if the technology is there but a question of if the ISP is willing to do it. We recently got FTTH here, but only those with aerial lines can get it, and only residences can get it, not businesses or apartments. Just a decision the ISP made.

Would not hurt to call up the company that's on that marker to find out what they offer in that area though.

 

[John Connor]

Just go to http://www.dslreports.com/ and enter the zip code.

 

[azazel1024]

Just go to http://www.dslreports.com/ and enter the zip code.

Yup. That said, what you are going to really need to do, is use the service providers through the above link for the zip code. Then call them and find out if they actually provide service to the address in question.

Just because they provide service to the area does not mean they do to that actual residence.

 

[XLer8]

I used to lay fiber for Tele Co. It's either a fiber or natural gas lines. You can sometimes tell by the tele numbers on the posts. Many jobs I did city to city and no neighbors in its line was connected to it. The very best is finding the local tele/cable co. and see if they offer high speed internet.