Bucket trucks. I love the FairPoint bucket trucks. This morning I found one of them directly in front of my house spinning fiber optic cable from pole to pole. Two more trucks and half a dozen guys swarmed our local Remote Terminal - the phone company wiring cabinet down the road. At least two other RTs in Northport are getting, or have already gotten the same treatment.
For our little broadband deprived island in Waldo County, this is big stuff! Anyone within 3 miles of one of these newly activated Remote Terminals should be able to get VantagePoint DSL, available at up to 15 megabits/sec. No idea when FP will begin signing people up. I hope/guess before the end of the year. After all, with cable hung, the investment has been made. The company has a clear financial motivation to start signing people up as soon as possible.
So, this is what meeting the "83% broadband coverage by the end of 2010" requirement, placed on FairPoint by the Maine Public Utilities Commission, actually looks like on the ground. To those of you still waiting, I wish you bucket trucks in your near future.
So please excuse this bit of geeky self-indulgence. Future posts will be less focused on my own frustrated Internet needs, now close to satisfaction, and more the general and still spotty situation across the State of Maine.
I leave with you with a few other shots of my new friends from the bucket truck:
