“When will you be in our area?”
How To Tell When Our High-Speed Fiber Internet Will Be In Your Neighborhood
You’ve been patiently awaiting the arrival of HomeWorks Connect high-speed fiber internet at your home, but you’re not sure just how much longer you’lll be waiting. Sound familiar? While it’s not possible to give a hard deadline on when to expect your installation, there’s some easy things you can do to have a better understanding of just how long you’ll be waiting.
Find Out Which Zone You’re In!
The first thing you should do, if you haven’t already, is input your address at Join.HomeWorksConnect.org. By doing this, you’ll find out which zone you’re in. You should also input a good email address and finish pre-registering. This will allow us to send you a contract via email when your home is able to be connected! We won’t use your email address for anything not related directly to the progress being made in your area.
Find Out Which Step Your Zone Is In!
After you find out which zone you’re in, you can visit the “Zones” page online at Join.HomeWorksConnect.org. You’ll see that your zone is color coded depending on what step it’s in. Each step is broken down more clearly in the chart to the left.
Check Your Zone’s Progress
Follow along on Facebook or at Join.HomeWorksConnect.org for updates on progress in your area! On the HomeWorks Connect website’s “Zones” page, some zones will show a progress bar tracking completion of the step for your zone.
STEPS TO CONNECTION
Click below to learn more about each step that it takes to connect a new zone to HomeWorks Connect’s high-speed internet!
1. Gathering Interest
This is the time when you and your neighbors need to actively sign up online to tell us you want fiber internet service. When we are ready to start the “Design” step in a new area, we look at the top zones in this step. At this point, your zone could be in this step for up to 2 years, depending on at what point it will be built out in Phase 5.
It’s important to note that pre-registration isn’t a binding contract, and package options can be changed before the final customer agreement is signed.
2. Design
Zones in this step have been selected to be part of our active phase. We’ve been building approximately one phase per year, announcing the new phase area, including all of the zones in that phase, at the beginning of each year.
Before any actual building is done in a zone, we have teams of engineers determine the best way for us to run our fiber cables. Crews are then sent out to stake and build the backbone of the system. Members will be notified of the construction in their area and may see our crews at work in their zone.
In 2021, we are building out Phase 4 of the 5 phases it will take to connect the whole service area. When in this step, we are actively designing and preparing your area for the construction of our network. Your zone could be in this step for up to a year.
3. Commitment
You’ll begin to see commotion in your area as we begin to construct our network in your area. You’ll also receive your contract via the email address you preregistered.
Generally, we wait for enough residents to
sign up before we move to the “Connections” step so that it’s cost effective to build the network. Zones are usually in this step for two or three months before we
are able to begin connecting homes that have signed their contracts.
4. Connections
Congrats! When enough contracts are signed, splicers and installers are sent out to complete the three step process of staking, trenching, and connecting a home. Our crews will work with homeowners to decide on the best way to hook their homes to the fiber to ensure quality and safety.
Zones in this step are actively having homes connected to our fiber internet network. Depending on the size of your zone, there is typically a 6 to 8 week wait for homes to be connected in this step.
If you sign your contract before your zone exits this step, you’ll receive free installation!
5. In Service!
Service is active throughout the zone. We are still accepting new fiber internet customers in these areas, although an installation fee may be charged. After you pre-register, call 800-668-8413 for more information.
What Makes Up A Fiber Internet System?
The above image shows that these pieces connect in the following order:
Our Office – The data center of the system that connects our fiber system to the rest o the world using laser technology.
Backbone Fiber – The largest of our fiber cable carries the most light so we use it to connect all of our ODC’s to one another. In the design step of our process, this is what we put on our utility poles.
ODC – In order to carry data, we use light from lasers that are housed in cabinets along our system. This light can travel up to 18 miles. Each Outdoor Distribution Cabinet (ODC) can have multiple lines of distribution fiber running from it to splitter cabinets.
Splitter – At the splitter, each modem is assigned its own fiber cable.
Distribution Fiber – Much of our system uses distribution fiber, which transport light at lower levels than the backbone fiber. These lower levels are what our modems use to communicate back to the office.
Terminal – The drop for your home begins at the terminal. We will start scheduling your drop once you’ve signed a service contract.
NID – Boxes, called network interface devices (NID), go on the outside of your location and end the drop portion of the installation.
Modem – When your installation is scheduled, a home installer will connect the NID on the outside of your home to the modem inside. These modems can be programmed to run wifi and telephone services.