Fiber-to-the-home internet service will be tantalizingly close to some homes in Saratoga Springs in just a few weeks—close but untouchable until next spring, if ever. SiFi Networks, which won a contract with the city to test their system, has submitted permits to the Department of Public Works and has been meeting with city officials, especially those in DPW. That department oversees construction matters such as these.
"I am working with them,” with SiFi’s installation crews and engineers, said DPW Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco after the city council meeting Tuesday evening Oct. 19. "We cleared up some issues."
In July, after a loud and rancorous discussion, the city approved a test of the company’s network, over Scirocco's objections. Scirocco said he was now generally positive about the process, though it is already about two weeks behind. He is still unsure if the system will pass the test, and is withholding judgement until next spring.
[Read more about the decision to test, here.]
His office has extended the start of laying cable until Oct. 31, two weeks after originally scheduled.
The city and SiFi had agreed in July to try about 10,000 linear feet of cable in two locations. DPW helped SiFi choose the Buff Road and Evergreen Drive area on the western edge of the city, and the South Broadway corridor from Circular Drive to Adelphi Street. No clients will be attached to the system, but SiFi will be testing connectivity.
The test will allow SiFi to install the basic network infrastructure. That includes burying cable in "microtrenches" along the roads and sidewalks and putting junction boxes on some utility poles and elsewhere.
The company builds a mesh system of cabling that allows the internet signal to find the fastest way out of the neighborhood. If a cable is broken or a connection is slow on one street, the routers in the system find another way to connect with the internet writ large, officials with the company said.
“We’ll probably know if a house has lost internet connection before the homeowner does,” said SiFi’s VP of business development and government affairs, Shawn Parker. He said they will dispatch repair trucks quickly.
The test will not only see how well the internet connectivity is working, but whether the cabling itself can handle the freezing, frost and heaving that comes during a North Country winter and spring.
For their part, SiFi officials told the city council they were moving forward and trying to build the system right. Their microtrench is about 1.25 inches wide a foot deep, which is deeper than some other companies cut. It’s a process relatively new in the United States, but that has been used for 30 years in Europe, the officials said.
“We want to be here a really long time in Saratoga Springs,” Parker told the board.
Scirocco, who has been skeptical of the system, said after the meeting he is still worried about the road and sidewalk conditions after microtrenching and whether or not the cables can handle a Saratoga winter.
After their presentation, Parker and Knight said they knew the process in the city had been rancorous and that Scirocco had been skeptical, but they said work in DPW has gone well.
“The conversation [with DPW and the city] is continuing in good faith,” Bob Knight said. He is SiFi's PR representative from the Harrison Edwards firm.
If the testing works, and the city and company are satisfied, they will begin to hook homes up to the system in the spring.
SiFi Networks provides the cabling to homes and businesses, but they do not provide internet service. SiFi will build the network and work with various internet service providers who will offer access to individual homes. A challenge may come as they hook up to some multi-family housing, especially if not all units want the access.
The network and internet service providers will be in direct competition with Spectrum cable which is the only ground-based internet provider in Saratoga Springs.
Commissioners on the city council were happy to hear that the process was moving forward and believe competition is needed to drive down prices and improve customer service.
SiFi officials have said services on their network should run from $60 to $100 per month.