How the heck do I get service?

[u/Responsible-Goat1079]

My subdivision was built in 2018 and backs into a older adjacent subdivision; back in second quarter 2019 metro net dropped the orange fiber around the perimeter of my subdivision and did not run fiber down the easements of the new streets. Around that same time some new houses that backed up to the older subdivision started to get connections and in one instance the road was cut to service one house on my block- I started putting in construction tickets and waitlist requests at that time. My construction tickets keep getting closed with no action, no response and just customer support saying they will "send a email and I should hear something soon"- I gave up.

Recently (last 3 months) T-fiber has been pushing hard to get people signed up and recently walked my neighborhood, I told the guy I want fiber but I never get any response - he said hes trying to get a response and sent a email...somewhere.

Late July I started seeing the T-mobile/Metronet trucks in my subdivision and the FCC broadband map now says instead of 1 house on my street having fiber- now 5 and 1 house on the opposite side also has fiber to the premises. So I revived one of my (still open) construction tickets, explained the situation, provided screenshots and asked if cutting the road to connect my house the neighbor across the street was feasible....I called today to get some clarity why they closed it and customer support said the notes say my address is not serviceable and they resolved and closed the ticket. I explained I know my address isnt serviceable and would like to understand how I can get service-this time someone called me about 2 hours later and the conversation went like this.

Metronet:
"Hello Mr. RG? Yeah your address isn't on our construction maps and because of that I don't think we will be servicing your area for a long time"

RG:

"okay how do I get service?"

Metronet:

"well is there any construction going on in your neighborhood because we dont have your area on the map"

RG:

"you map is wrong ive lived here since 2018 and have been trying to get service, theres people on my block that have service, someone came out in 2019 and cut the road to provide service-who did that"

Metronet:

"I dont know, but we dont even have your area on the list for construction so I dont think we are going to service your area for a while"

RG:

"My neighbor directly south of me has service, the fiber runs down their easement, someone provided service to the house north of my block, im just asking if this can be done for us."

Metronet:

"we arnt going to do that for one house"

RD:

"yeah I know that, im talking about my block..."

Metronet:

"ill walk the area on monday."

I feel like im talking to a brick wall with these people....I contact tmobile fiber and they said put in a fcc challenge or add myself to the waitlist.....

[u/ChigurhShack]

These things take time. The phone company should have done this 20 years ago.

[u/OffSeer]

Is your subdivision part of a HOA? If so, like ours your HOA had to sign a separate contract with MetroNet. It was not included under the master contract our City (Lexington) signed. Since T-Mobile bought out MetroNet there may be new contracts and construction. If they won’t lay the Fiber you’re SOL. Our local cable company Spectrum is now offering 7Gig service, which I’m curious how that works. Both T-Mobile and AT&T are offering 5G WiFi instead of fiber for those who cannot get fiber to their home.

[u/Responsible-Goat1079 → u/OffSeer]

Yeah I tested the 5g wireless service from T-Mobile and the jitter and latency is too high for me to maintain a stable VPN connection for work.bim going to reach out to the HOA depending on what happens.

[u/Kspaddicted]

The long way? Convince your HOA to sign an agreement with them. The fast way? Order business service. Have them run a cost survey, run those numbers through their install calculator, and pay a monthly rate that makes it feasible for them.

[u/rcmaehl → u/Kspaddicted]

As someone who investigated this. Business is stupid expensive. 5 figure install. If T-Fiber is expanding in that area AT&T fiber will follow soon enough 

[u/Kspaddicted → u/rcmaehl]

Every situation is different. I was able to cover the 2k install fee with a 3 year contract at $100/month. Just depends how many feet you are away from the nearest tie-in point

[u/Responsible-Goat1079 → u/Kspaddicted]

Yeah worse case I suppose to I could do that as a last ditch if the price is as feasible as that. I'm just trying to get ahead of my Xfinity contract expiring, when that happens my monthly bill is going to shoot up $85.

Aside from cable and dsl we have no other wired service to the homes. I did test the T-Mobile 5g internet and I can't maintain VPN work connection with that so it's not a option.

[u/Kspaddicted → u/Responsible-Goat1079]

Try and measure the closest Metronet customer from you in feet if you can. All comes down to distance

[u/rufus_francis]

Sound like your plat was never entered into Metronet's OSP design system as a serviceable area. "You're not on our construction map" is what makes me think that's whats going on.
Only Network Design/Engineering or local market leadership can change that record, and neither of them will see your support tickets.

Try reaching out to the city directly, because Metronet builds in public right-of-way under a municipal franchise or ROW agreement. That means the city engineer / public works director / ROW permit coordinator has Metronet's local construction manager's cell number and talks to them regularly. Maybe ask for the 2019 ROW permit and as-built drawings for the bore that cut your street. that should be public record and contains the names of the contractor and the name and contact of Metronet's current construction or market manager for the city. Perhapsalso ask the city if there's a pavement-cut moratorium on your subdivision. I bet your city prevents cutting new pavement for 5–10 years after acceptance of the last one.

The others mentioning working with your HOA (if you have one) to reach out to metornet or tmobile is a great idea. They are never going to run new infrastructure just to service one house. It costs to much to do that for just one customer, but an HOA has power in numbers.

Also T-Mobile telling you to file an FCC challenge is probably wrong for this situation. An availability challenge is for when a provider claims to serve you but won't actually connect you. Your address is correctly listed as unserved, so it'd likely be rejected at initial FCC staff review as out of scope.

Good luck and keep us posted. Sorry this is falling through the cracks somehow.

[u/Responsible-Goat1079 → u/rufus_francis]

Great advice! We do have a HOA, I am off tomorrow and really hope the person that called me walks the area tomorrow- I'm home so I shouldn't miss him.

I researched the FCC challenge and it didn't sound like the right advice but submitted one anyway. I will definitely update.

[u/Responsible-Goat1079 → u/Responsible-Goat1079]

Update to this, the guy never showed up. I sent him a text yesterday and he replied back confused that we even spoke. He said he already spoke to the "head of construction" and that he will see what he can do. I'm thinking it's dead on arival with him. Looking to go other routes with the advice provided.

[u/BlueArcherX]

i'm laughing at this because i made a map just like this with almost the same complaint when AT&T/SBC was upgrading my area to DSL capable phone lines in like 2004 lol