O-NET has now completed fibre installation in 10 of 12 service areas in Olds.
That just leaves Service Area 2, which includes an area north of Highway 27 and west of 50 Avenue; and Area 6, which includes an area west of 57 Avenue and south of Highway 27.
Fibre optic installation in Area 2 is expected to be completed by the end of October; and fibre installation in Area 6 is expected to be completed in December.
Installation of fibre has just been completed in Service Area 7, in the Winter Lake area of town, which means more than 450 homes in that area could obtain O-NET's services if they decided to sign up for them.
Fibre optic installation is step one in getting O-NET's TV, Internet and phone service to residents who sign up for it. A conduit still needs to be installed and fibre pulled in to a customer's home to enable them to actually receive services they've signed up for.
However, that won't happen overnight.
O-NET outside plant manager Marty Konsmo says the process to install the conduit and pull the fibre will likely take four or five days.
“Once we know that we have the conduit in then we usually fire up the install. We talk to the customer and set up a date when we can do the install,” Konsmo says.
“So it's up to a week or so (before) we can have them fired up and ready to go, as long as we have the conduit in.“
“If they all subscribed tomorrow we would have one hell of a time (to get service to all of them),” he adds. “We would do everything (in our power) to get them all in there, but it's going to take some time; just the logistics of having that many people working on 450 (homes) at once.“
Konsmo also says if the customer plans to keep their existing phone number, O-NET would have to inform the customer's previous phone service provider – i.e. Telus or Shaw. The process to inform them and do that switchover could take seven days.
Currently, two companies are working on installing fibre optic lines in Service Area 2. One, Able, is from Olds; the other is from Red Deer.
“They've split the area up into two sections and they're full-out. They're working in the alley behind 44th Street, just off of the old football ground there,” Konsmo says.
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"If they all subscribed tomorrow we would have one hell of a time (to get service to all of them)," he adds. "We would do everything (in our power) to get them all in there, but it's going to take some time; just the logistics of having that many people working on 450 (homes) at once."
