Fiber Optic Internet Network Expands in Eagle Mountain to  Liberty Farms, Rush Valley and Saddleback subdivisions

The  Liberty Farms and Saddleback network areas will become the next Fiberhoods in Eagle Mountain, where older copper connections will be upgraded to new Fiber to the Home, bringing 1 Gigabit speeds and luxury Internet service for residents living in these older subdivisions. This latest fiber construction project will begin in August 2016 and the first customers  will begin to be cut over from DSL to Fiber connections in November 2016. All homes in Saddleback and Liberty Farms currently on copper should be completely cut over to 100% fiber  to the home by the end of Spring 2017. This project will bring fiber service to approximately 500 more homes in Eagle Mountain.

Tentative Project Schedule

Areas in red will be upgraded to Fiber

Area residents are invited to attend a project open house on Wednesday, July 20 2016 from 4pm-7pm at Three’s Crossing Park (Corner of Cattle Drive and Dodge St.)  This will be an informal event where the company will outline the construction schedule and upgrade plan, and answer any questions one-on-one about how the construction will affect you, how residents can prepare for fiber to the home, and how fiber will improve the quality of life for residents in Eagle Mountain.

This new construction project is part of a greater push by Directcom to speed up the process of converting every neighborhood in Eagle Mountain to fiber. During 2015, the company invested over $2,250,000 in fiber construction with about $750,000 being spent in keeping up with utility construction in new subdivisions, and the rest invested in fiber upgrades to older subdivisions previously served only by copper.

Luxury Fiber Internet will soon be yours in Kiowa.

During 2015, Direct Communications upgraded the Chimney Rock area around Nolan Park to fiber, and began upgrading the Silverlake area to all new fiber. During Spring of 2016 the Silverlake fiber upgrade project was completed, and the Kiowa Valley fiber upgrade construction began. Chuck McCown, Operations Manager of Direct Communications, explained that this Liberty Farms and Saddleback project will be similar to the other projects completed in 2015 and 2016, in that the work will mostly be done by utility contractors, in order to speed up the upgrade process.

However, the final splice to the home and cutover to fiber at the home will be completed by Directcom’s own techs, who will be installing Optical Network Terminals on the outside of customers homes. Another contractor, Phelps Electric will be out at the same time installing outdoor power supply on houses to power the fiber electronics on the side of the homes. Since fiber does not carry an electrical signal like copper, each fiber terminal needs a power supply to power the electronics which convert the digital laser light to an Ethernet signal inside the home.

Kip Wilson, General Manager for Direct Communications in Eagle Mountain, said that although he understands everyone wants to be the next neighborhood to be upgraded, areas are chosen and prioritized carefully as upgrade projects for various  reasons such as:

1. Whether the subdivision has existing duct already in the ground, which makes the capital investment cost requirement for the upgrade lower per sub,
2. The distance from the central office to the subdivision, which can make the area more difficult to serve satisfactorily with copper,
3. Higher number of potential customers: “We look at population density, and where we can provide the greatest benefit to the most people with the limited funding that we have available to us each year.”
4. The condition of existing copper laid by the original property developers. Much of the original copper is in dire need of an upgrade, and where the old copper is causing the most problems for both customers and the network techs, the company will often seek to upgrade those areas to fiber first.

Buried Fiber Handhole, which will replace the old above-ground copper PEDs. This one was decorated very nicely by a resident in the city center area.

Generally, yards and gardens will not be disturbed, except where existing telephone pedestals are located at the corner of property lots– these pedestals will be replaced with handholes, which will be buried and placed level to the ground, which the company hoped would be welcomed by homeowners, since having no visible equipment would enhance curb appeal of the neighborhood. Most yards do have existing conduit from the old copper pedestals to the home, so crews should be able to pull new fiber through to the side of the house without disturbing the yards or lawns.

1 Gigabit speeds will be available to customers in Liberty Farms and Saddleback with fiber to the home. The company is currently accepting pre-orders for fiber service for residents who are not yet customers. Current copper customers will automatically  be upgraded via appointment as fiber becomes available to each home.

Network Map of Current Fiber availability in Eagle Mountain Utah

Click on the “view larger map” icon on the top right bar of the network map below, and enter your address in the search field in the google maps interface to see if fiber is already installed at your home or future home.

Yellow areas are Fiber-to-the-home. Blue areas are still copper to the home, and will be upgraded to fiber in the future.