Sturgeon County Construction Update – February

Sturgeon County Construction Update – February

What to expect:

 

We have been hard at work to ensure everyone knows that we are bringing your community fiber optic internet! More importantly, our project is bringing speeds up to 1,000 Mbps! And because Sturgeon County has been so poorly served, this means that you will have an opportunity to get internet that is 1000x faster.

Progress So Far:  

We’ve been hard at work alongside the CFO team to get fiber into residents’ homes as fast as we can. While the transport construction crew has been plowing and directional drilling along the many highways and grid routes, the installation team has been getting ahead of them with drops to the homes ready to connect to our services when the transport and middle mile construction is complete! There has been a brief pause over the winter, while the ground and fiber is difficult to work with. Construction will resume as soon as possible in the early spring, and Sturgeon County is still on track to be connected in 2023.

 

Here is the most recent update where the construction stands in our communities from the CFO team:

As a reminder, the transport fiber is the fiber that will connect hamlets to each other.  The middle mile fiber is the fiber infrastructure that runs along streets and alleys in population centers, and the drop is the fiber the connects your individual home or property. 

Villeneuve – Complete, Internet Service Active!

Calahoo – Construction complete, services soon

Hansen’s Estates – Construction complete, services coming soon

Turfside Estates – Construction complete, services coming soon

Rosal Acres – Construction complete, services coming soon

Dover Estates – Construction complete, services soon

Shil Shol Estates – Construction complete, services soon

Northern Lights – Drops in progress, middle mile completed ahead of transport construction

River Que Barre – Drops in progress, middle mile completed ahead of transport construction

Heritage IP – Drops in progress, middle mile completed ahead of transport construction

Terreault Estates – Drops in progress ahead of transport and middle mile construction

Westwood Lane – Drops in progress ahead of transport and middle mile construction

Rol Anna Park – Coming 2023

Pine Sands – Coming 2023

Glory Hills – Coming 2023

RR262 – Coming 2023

Pro North – Coming 2023

Villeneuve Airport – Coming 2023

Calahoo Trailer Park – Coming 2023

Silver Chief – Coming 2023

Fairhaven and West Fairhaven – Coming 2023

Reyda Vista – Coming 2023

 

If you are in a community where services are coming soon and you’ve already signed up for Northern Lights Fiber, there is nothing required to do on your end! Our team will call you to schedule installations of services once we have network light to your community. 

 

If you have already signed an Access Agreement, the CFO drop crew will be placing underground conduit and fiber on your property. You will receive contact via e-mail and phone call from the CFO team to install your drop, and ONT to your home respectively when our drop crew is working in your area.

Access Agreement

At this time, the most important thing for you to do is sign an access agreement. You can find the link by visiting HERE. Our blog has easy to follow steps.

 

Underground Construction  

To prepare Sturgeon County for their digital future, new fiber-optic infrastructure is deeply important. This will ensure that the upgrades will service and last for generations to come.  And to ensure that the network remains reliable, we will bury this infrastructure! But even in the best weather conditions, installing new underground infrastructure is hard and dangerous work, so here are some things you should know about the project:

 

Flagging  

Before the project begins down your alleys, side streets, and the drop comes into your yard, you will see flags begin to pop up all around. This is the first step at installation your drop, and if you’ve registered for services you will be notified when we start this process for your home. These flags are incredibly important as it tells the construction crew where important infrastructure, like gas and electric, is located. If you see these flags, please ensure that you do not touch or remove them from the ground. If a crew is unable to see a flag or the utilities below it could cause serious damage to your utilities or cause harm to the crew! If you would like to let us know about private utilities on your property where we will be building, please call our main line and let our team know. For more information on locates, visit UtilitySafety.ca.

 

Installing the drop

This is the easy part! Access to the home isn’t required for the initial drop so no appointment is needed. This is completed based on techs availability. The CFO crew will come by and knock/ring first before getting to work. They will install the conduit from our access point to just outside of your home. They do this by making use of a vibratory plow, to install the fiber cable just beneath the ground. All you’ll see is an orange piece sticking out of the ground ready to install your ONT, which converts the light signals into internet. How neat is that? After this, you just need to register internet services to use your new fiber internet network. If you’re interested in learning more about or connecting to Northern Lights Fiber services you can check them out here!

 

It Can Get Messy

Progress is going very well, but like all things in our Canadian winters and springs, construction takes longer and can get a bit messy. Spring construction can be difficult as the ground is still wet and is prone to creating creating plenty of mud. Because we are building buried infrastructure under/in wet ground, progress on our new construction will require a bit of a mess to complete properly. Follow our Facebook page to keep yourself updated as we push through this spring to connect you sooner!

 

Remediation  

We are building underground construction, which means we dig holes and small trenches for the fiber lines to run down! Although we deploy directional drills and vibratory plowing equipment that reduces the amount of soil turned, we still create a small mess. But fear not, we always remediate anything effected by our work and ensure that it will return to its healthiest form in suitable time.

Our team will wait for our spring sun to thaw the ground so the soil can properly settle. At that point, we set the earth to final grade and plant new seed for your lawn to regrow to its previous health! It is a small price we need to pay to keep construction moving so we can continue to connect homes and businesses as fast as possible!

 

How do I sign up!?  

If you would like to register for service now, check out our world-class products and services HERE! (And remember, you will NOT be charged anything until the service officially begins after installation).

Visit our Products and Pricing page or give us a call at 1-888-CFO-2947 (ext 2, for Sales)