How we build, and your install | Aspire Fiber

How we build

From our plan to your front door.

Every foot of our network is 100% underground fiber. Here is exactly what happens on your street, in order, before anyone is offered service, and then what happens at your house on install day.

During construction Your install

Part one · Network construction

Getting fiber to your curb

Every network construction plan is agreed on with the city. All the work happens in the public right of way, and residents are notified before construction begins on their street.

Tap each stage to see what happens on your street.

  1. 1

    Stage one

    Plan the network

    The whole city gets divided into serving areas: where the backbone runs, where the cabinets go, how many homes each has to reach, with enough spare capacity that we're not back in ten years.

    On your street Nothing at all. This part happens on a screen.

    A serving-area plan: every home in a city dropped onto the map and colour-coded by which cabinet it will hang off
  2. 2

    Stage two

    Design it, then get it permitted

    Every vault, every bore under a driveway, every crossing of someone else's gas or water gets decided street by street, not estimated. Then the city reviews that drawing and issues the permit. This is the longest stage of the build, with nothing to look at, which is why "coming soon" takes as long as it does for anybody, anywhere.

    On your street Someone on foot with a measuring wheel, once. Then nothing for a while.

    A construction drawing: bore callouts, conduit counts and every existing gas, water, power and telephone line on the street
  3. 3

    Stage three

    Locate, then microtrench

    Paint first, that's utility locating, not digging. Then we microtrench: a saw cuts a slot a couple of inches wide, the microduct drops in, and slurry fills in behind the saw. That slurry is a temporary fill; the permanent seal comes in the next stage. A line in the pavement, not an open site.

    On your street Paint lines for a few days, then one narrow cut that's filled in the same pass.

    A microtrench cut running the gutter line of a residential street, the saw and crew working ahead of it
  4. 4

    Stage four

    Seal it back up

    The slurry is topped with a flexible restoration material made for your street. It flexes with the road instead of cracking out in a season.

    On your street A clean sealed line where the cut was, flush with the surface.

    The same cut sealed flush with the road surface, a clean line along the gutter with no patchwork around it
  5. 5

    Stage five

    Blow the glass in and splice it

    The duct has been empty until now. Fiber is air-jetted through it, then every strand is fusion-spliced rather than clipped into a connector, and the whole segment is tested with light. Any splice that tests weak gets redone. Because the path is duct rather than buried cable, capacity can be added later without digging your street again.

    On your street A jetting truck over a vault lid for an afternoon, then a splice trailer near the cabinet for a day or two.

    A splice tray open in a cabinet, yellow pigtails dressed into rows of green connectors
  6. 6

    Stage six

    The network goes live

    The street only opens for orders once the fiber has been tested end to end. Once we are clear to go live, a notification is sent to every pre-subscribed resident.

    On your street Nothing to see. The fiber is live at the curb, waiting on your install.

    A city seen from above with a network laid over it, the segment lit and carrying traffic

See these short clips for what to expect while we build the network on your street.

During construction
Duct drop

Why we do it this way

Underground, all of it

No poles, nothing for a storm to take down. It costs more to build and it's the reason the network stays up.

Conduit, not buried cable

The glass lives inside a pipe. Adding capacity later means blowing more fiber through it, not digging your street a second time.

Built and run from here

Local crews build the street and install your home, and the same company answers when you call. Nothing gets handed off.

Part two · Home installation

Then we come to you

Once the network is live you pick a day. Three steps, one visit, usually inside two hours, and you're online before the van leaves.

A narrow drop bury open along a front lawn, the turf lifted in strips onto protection mats with the spoil kept off the grass
During Turf up in strips, spoil on mats, one narrow slot.
The same lawn after the install: turf laid back along the path, no scar and no bare ground
After Same lawn, same day. That's the standard.
Aspire Fiber home equipment: the Wi-Fi router and the ONT set up on a desk
CPE install ONT mounted inside, house or garage, and the router where the coverage needs to be.
A customer watching something on a tablet at home, online on the new service
Provisioning and activation Tested to the plan you bought, on your own devices, before we leave.
  1. 1

    Drop bury

    On install day, we blow fiber from the cabinet to the duct drop at your curb, then a narrow bury carries it from the curb to the wall of your house. Turf is lifted in strips onto mats and laid straight back, not scraped off, so the lawn recovers quickly.

  2. 2

    CPE install

    The fiber comes through one wall penetration and is terminated on an ONT mounted inside, in the house or the garage, somewhere dry and reachable that you pick with the technician. The router then goes where the coverage actually needs to be, not next to whatever wall the old cable happened to come through.

  3. 3

    Provisioning and activation

    Your service is provisioned onto the port, the line is tested to the plan you bought, and we check the speed on your own devices before we leave. Then you're live.

Worth doing beforehand

  • Clear a path to a power outlet and to wherever you would like the equipment.
  • Have your current Wi-Fi password handy if you want the same network name kept.
  • Keep pets somewhere settled; doors will be open for a while.

Don't cancel your old service yet

Keep it until ours is working and you're happy. There's no overlap penalty on our side, so cancel theirs the day after.

Need to move your install?

Call or text (805) 322-0086 to reschedule. Moving your install appointment is free, and we'd much rather move it than have you rush home.

Want to know when your street is due?

Put your address in and you'll get a straight answer for your block, including whether there's a date on it yet.

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