LESSONS FROM THE FIELD 5.
A contractor pushes fiber into a duct in a residential neighborhood.
Below, fiber construction manager
Bob Miles shows preconnectorized drop cable.
as schools, libraries and fire stations. But we also included many civic institutions that are anchor social institutions in our community. Tese include nonprofit social service agencies, churches and faith-based organizations, senior living centers and more." (Te complete list is at http://uc2b.net/handbook/anchor- institutions/.) Yet another unusual feature of the
project is that every UC2B location – whether residence or anchor institution – will have 1 Gbps symmetrical connec- tivity to every other location on UC2B, no matter what level of service it chooses for Internet connectivity (the lowest tier is 20 Mbps symmetrical for $19.99 per month.) Tis means students can connect to
public schools and libraries; university students, staff and faculty can connect to their data sets or the Blue Waters supercomputer on campus; and all the anchor institutions can deliver large data sets and have high-definition video communications with residents. Bob Miles, IT fiber construction
manager, shares some of his experiences digging fiber through an older urban area:
'PAINTED LIKE A PICASSO'
"When you do an underground job as large as ours, you have to be very flexible
Bob Miles shows a local convergence point to residents taking a bus tour to learn about UC2B.
OCTOBER 2012 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 73
Ethernet switches in the local convergence point