There is Always a Loop

I think some people are under the impression that a Lit Building, a multi-tenant building with fiber into it, means that the carrier will give away the bandwidth. That is widely inaccurate.

A lit building means that you won’t wait months for a build out and turn up of service. That’s the benefit of a lit building to the tenants.

Most carriers, especially the ILEC variety, charge a loop to every address — yes, even to some data centers unless that data center is on a special list. Even Level(3) charges a loop (or backhaul) to a POP. They have to make money on something because the cost of the port is so low.

Fiber locator has a fiber map program. Access is about $500 per month. It isn’t a complete carrier list by any stretch. Cable companies and ILECs don’t usually give out a lit building list. Carriers that are primarily fiber companies like Cogent do keep a list, but not a public one. And I don’t quote Cogent because they are not channel friendly.

BTW, when service providers talk about Cogent or HE at $500 per Gig, they mean port only in a designated data center like 56 in Atlanta. They don’t mean everywhere. And roof rights on 56 are a challenge to come by. I have even heard SPs give per MB pricing for bandwidth but it usually doesn’t include the loop. And there is usually a loop. Even in the data center, there is not only a x-connect fee, but that carrier has a loop somewhere to deliver that bandwidth where it needs to go. There is always a loop.

The latest is my average experience.

WISP requests 100 MB and 200MB “but because we are a WISP we are adaptive and flexible. Just find us a lit building nearby.”

I explain that 100MB and 200MB will be a world of difference due to one being delivered on FastE and the larger on Gigabit transport. WISP explains to me that 100MB comes on Gigabit circuit. (In my 15 years, it usually comes on FastE on most carriers.)

I explain that I will have to manually filter through fiber maps and lit building lists as best as I can.

Two carriers no bid. The ILEC did bid. It was off-net for another carrier but they did bid less than the ILEC and reasonable.

The response was baffling, “Can you find a building that is nearby (say 5, 10, 15, etc miles) with more bandwidth?” That’s a big, variable radius. The quotes were delivering the bandwidth to the end user site; not somewhere 10 miles away where you would have to negotiate roof rights and purchase licensed link gear.

It turns out that carriers I work with don’t have fiber near this location. My lit buildings lists are from 2011 and have nothing nearby. I explain all this. Hear nothing back. Ping them again.

The reply, “I do think that cost is higher than what we can do there so we’re looking at a nearby already lit building and licensed link.”

It’s why salespeople have to do a better job of discovery (me included). I should have nailed down budget first and exactly what the service provider wanted.